The Heart of the Cherry Blossom
by animea-hime
Summary: She was the blossom that needed reviving and saving, he was the one who she saved. Now six months after his return to the Leaf, it is their mission to save the girl from her self. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence. [Complete]
1. Prologue

Prologue: The life of a blossom.

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**Summary: **She was admired, she was worshiped; she was praised. She grew in strength and power, she grew distant towards people. Since five, she had trying to save the people around her, but then she just gave up after her closest friend left her. She had never cried since the slaughter of her clan, but she still smiled, but as soon as he left, everything changed, she stopped smiling, she had forgotten how to. She had saved people numerous times in battle with her knowledge and abilities, she brought them back healthy from the missions they came across, it didn't matter, as long as her whole team came back safely, even if she was on the brink of death, she wouldn't allow her self to die pathetically. She had saved everyone, yet she was the one in need of saving; saving from herself and her decaying heart. She was the blossom that needed reviving and saving, he was the one who she saved. Now six months after his return to the Leaf, it is their mission to save the girl from her self. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.

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'_Thoughts'_

'_**Inner selves'**_

"Talking"

_FLASH BACK…_

P.O.V

--

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

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_At the age of five, a girl witnessed the massacre and slaughter of the entire Haruno Clan, from beginning to the end. The only survivors were her older brother Daiki, her older sister Hikari and of course herself. Upon their last moments in the world of the living her father, on behalf of him and her mother blamed the girl for their death, and the only way for redemption from them was to surpass her older siblings. At five, the girl left the thriving city of Konoha with her older siblings to go to the Wind Country; to the Village hidden in the Sand; Suna leaving behind her best friend Yamanaka Ino._

_At ten, the girl returned to her home sibling-less and enrolled into the ninja academy, graduating six months after joining. At ten she became part of a genin squad with a jounin as their new sensei. That genin team was called Team seven; and along with her, she had Uchiha Sasuke the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan massacre, Uzamaki Naruto the vessel of the Kyubi and Hatake Kakashi the copy ninja. At the age of ten the girl had gone on countless missions with that team, enough so that she was allowed to participate in the Chuunin selection and passed with flying colours on her first try, thus becoming a chuunin at age ten; continuing to gain strength in her dead parents' wishes to beat her siblings._

_At age ten, she allowed her closest friend leave the Village hidden in the Leaves and head for sound to obtain power, after woods being knocked unconscious by that friend. For some reason she felt useless. On the first recon mission to bring back Sasuke which was the morning after he left, the girl was one of the few selected to bring him back, so along with Shikamaru, she lead the genins to being back Sasuke; the genins consisting of Kiba, Chouji, Neji and Naruto; the males not exactly liking the idea that a girl was basically in charge; over Shikamaru as well; especially since she did such a good job of it._

_The following year, at age eleven, the girl became the Godaime's apprentice; Tsunade's apprentice; one of the legendary Sannin, like her team mates who were apprentices of one of the legendary apprentices. At eleven she inherited the Godaime's ability to mold chakra into her fists; thus making her taijutsu unbeatable. At eleven she learnt to summon slugs of all sizes and a large range of medical ninjutsu. At eleven she watched the last member of team seven leave the village hidden in the leaves to train with the frog hermit; and as Naruto left, the girl felt alone again, abandoned again. She lost trust in the people around her, and began to seclude her self from everyone._

_At thirteen she had surpassed the Godaime and took the jounin exams; and like in the chuunin exams; she passed with flying colours; becoming a jounin one year before Hyuuga Neji and Nara Shikamaru. At thirteen she had gone on many missions, a lot of solo missions as well, numerous times cheating death with out any chance of survival, but by some miracle, each time the girl ended back into the Konoha hospital. At thirteen Uzamaki Naruto came back to the village, taller than her, older, wiser, and with the return of the blonde, Tsunade announced the re-assembling of Team seven. _

_At thirteen, the Akatsuki came towards her and her squad after Naruto and the Kyubi, as well as Gaara and the Shukaku, who was traveling with them as well. Half way through the battle, she had killed Sasori, one of the Akatsuki, but in doing so, her bandages had been ripped off, revealing odd markings all around her arms, which shocked everyone extremely, they thought it was just a tattoo, but then Deidara had said something about that being a seal mark, but he didn't understand what it was for, but it held much chakra, by now the marks had evolved, becoming white in the centre pieces and black on the outside, as if the black was an outline. _

_At thirteen, the Akatsuki had found out that the inner mind of the girl was not just a spirit but a demon; one of great power, and if they got control of that demon the pair to it would come out; like ying and yang; they were joined together in fate, but because it was sealed into the girl, the yang of the pair had gone and the only way they learned about this was when her bandages around her arms had been accidentally torn and ripped off; no one expecting the marks on both of arms and of course to have something like that on her body that had chakra in it, meant it was a seal, a seal that appeared on her tenth year of life. Of course, no one in the team understood what it was or how to deal with it, not Gaara or Naruto knew what the hell Deidara was going on about, but some how they knew that she was like them. At thirteen she gave up on pleasing her parents and focused on avoiding the Akatsuki, and controlling the demon inside her, as the urges to kill people grew, as well as the amount of chakra swirling around in her body, it became very hard to maintain at a safe level after every training session, the chakra amount seemingly growing a little bit thus making it harder to control, ironically, she was still in a way pleasing her dead parents by getting stronger. _

_By fourteen, a new member had been added to the Team seven squad; the replacement for Sasuke. At first they didn't like the new member, he didn't approve of them. His name was Sai, he was an artist, and apparently was part of the ANBU as well. As the year passed, they warmed up to the dark artist and he to them; although, Sakura seemed to be the one with hostilities still; but she seemed hostile with every one. By fourteen they had gone on so many missions to bring Sasuke back that they lost count after a while. As promised, the girl did not interfere with the Uchiha's training, emerald and black never clashed, nor did pink and black. She avoided him, as much as he avoided her._

Now at fifteen the girl had gone on some many solo and suicidal missions the numbers were endless. Her outfit changed form green to black. She became very anti-social, she glared at people with distaste and hated people with a burning passion, she growled, she held no respect for them. Her training was strict and rough, never seizing for a brake. On the girl's fifteenth birthday, though know one knew of it or when it was, the girl wasn't around, like she had disappeared from the face of the planet. One day out of every year no one could find her, coincidently it was always the day of her birthday, but no one knew when her birthday was, so they never understood why she disappeared. The day before or that morning would be the only appearance she would make for twenty-four hours, and that to buy flowers at the Yamanaka flower shop. It was always the same arrangement, four red roses, eight white roses and two cherry blossom twigs; which was much to the distaste of the Yamanaka, but none-the-less she sold the girl the flowers.

At fifteen, like her promise to the Uchiha, she brought him back; she came at the right time too, as they were about to perform the transfer jutsu. Sasuke told her to get lost and not interfere but she refused; reminding him that after the transfer jutsu was complete, she doubted that the snake Sannin would keep to his promises and kill Itachi for him and that she had swore that if hadn't come back after three years, she would bring him back, be it dead or alive. Realizing the girl's logic, remembering what she had said five years ago, the promise he made the teenager watched as his ex-team mate battled against Kabuto; getting knocked down by his chakra blade, and then stabbed in the gut with a kunai; watching the fall of his ex-team mate Sasuke's anger grew as he pulled free of his binds and killed Orochimaru, while the girl beat Kabuto while sitting down.

At fifteen the recon mission to being back S-class missing nin Uchiha Sasuke was successful, however bringing back Sasuke also meant bringing back his subordinates, insisting they follow him; although it was the female subordinate that insisted on this after they broke them free of their binds in the dungeon Orochimaru had shoved them into. The females name was Karin and she despised the young girl with all her heart and soul. She hated her from the moment she convinced her Sasuke-sama to go back to Konoha where he will most likely be punished. She hated that she had convinced him to go home; while Karin had insisted on killing the girl. Karin didn't know who this girl was nor did she care, but she wanted her dead, but as soon as she made that threat, the girl had announced that if they attempted to kill her; she would be the one left standing not them, her decision backed up the by the Uchiha, which infuriated the glassed female.

On the way towards Konoha (they dropped one of the Uchiha's subordinates in the Wave Country since that was his wish to do so while the other two followed their _Sasuke-sama_); they came across enemy ninja; whether they be missing Nins or not, Sakura took charge and killed them mercilessly after they had hit Sasuke's subordinates, but didn't kill them. As they arrived in Konoha, they were greeted two jounin; and she escorted remaining members of Team Snake to the Hokage's office for punishment; which ended in a very lax punishment, since they wanted the Uchiha power on their side; a simple punishment of probation for five months and an escort to where ever he was to go. Upon a good behaviour bond, the Uchiha was released from his punishment after three months and was re-instated as a Konoha ninja and was promoted to jounin after they found out he had killed Orochimaru. They allowed his two remaining subordinates to stay, but an ANBU squad or tracker was always with them, the other having gone back to the wave.

However, even if she were the one to bring him back; as soon as she was allowed to leave the Godaime's he had not seen her ever again for at least six months; she was always on missions, always solo missions as well or she was training, and apparently she changed her training ground every now and then, so no one knew where she was, it's only by luck that they find her, and her chakra was undetectable, so they can't find her by sensing her either. And if she wasn't training, or on a mission, by the odd occasion she would be in the hospital; but that was only after the Godaime would order her to help out. Sasuke, though he didn't want to admit, missed the girl. By fifteen, the girl had been attacked countless times by the Akatsuki it was ridiculous; they must really want the demon in her really badly, but no one knew that she had been attacked, and if they did, they didn't understand why.

Now at fifteen, she was enclosed into a shell, an unbreakable shell with the ultimate defenses and offenses. When she was ten, people thought she was coming out of the shell, but with the departure of the Uchiha she moved back into her shell and closed up. The cherry blossom had yet to come into full bloom. Now, six months after the Uchiha's return, they are trying to revive the soul of the cherry blossom and get her to bloom. This is the story of that girl, a girl who shares the name sake of the delicate and fragile flower, a flower that has the colour of her hair; that shares its beauty with the world every time it greets you; this is the story of Haruno Sakura.

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**Notes:**

-Hey there –waves- I'm back with the sequel as I promised, you guys are so lucky I'm on holidays right now, but I only have a week left...Waaaaaahhh!!!! -cries pathetically-

-I know, it's a little short for one of my stories, gomen nasai, but I promise that they'll get longer, besides, I can have so much more fun now since I have no script to basically stick to :D and this is the prologue.

-Remember, this is the sequel to 'The Strength of the Cherry Blossom' if you don't understand what's going on, please read that first -sweatdrops-

-I feel so unaccomplished having such a small prologue -wails-

-Please note, that with some of these chapters I might be using the movie missions because I'm cool like that, and I planned it like that...sort of... :)

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Chapter 1: He's back, I'm alone

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	2. He's back, I'm alone

Chapter 1: He's back, I'm alone

* * *

**Summary: **She was admired, she was worshiped; she was praised. She grew in strength and power, she grew distant towards people. Since five, she had trying to save the people around her, but then she just gave up after her closest friend left her. She had never cried since the slaughter of her clan, but she still smiled, but as soon as he left, everything changed, she stopped smiling, she had forgotten how to. She had saved people numerous times in battle with her knowledge and abilities, she brought them back healthy from the missions they came across, it didn't matter, as long as her whole team came back safely, even if she was on the brink of death, she wouldn't allow her self to die pathetically. She had saved everyone, yet she was the one in need of saving; saving from herself and her decaying heart. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.

* * *

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Inner selves'**_

"Talking"

_FLASH BACK…_

P.O.V

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

* * *

She was now fifteen while the other rookie nine were seventeen. She was a jounin, while the rest, except Shikamaru and Neji, were chuunin. She held talent, she held power, and she held strength. She a brilliant kunoichi who was admired by many, for looks, for strength, for wisdom. Now at age fifteen, the people around her that called them selves her friends had slowly paired up; Naruto to Hinata, Shikamaru to Temari, Neji to Tenten and Sai to Ino. Her friends were worried for her; especially Ino, she was never around, she was always engrossed in training, never really stopping for a break, and no one ever knew where she was, it was hard to find the girl. 

As the years past, the girl's strength increased, as well as her knowledge, her attitude had changed; it went from slightly happy to just plain cold. Her body grew, and so did her features, if at ten you thought she looked gorgeous, then at fifteen she was a fucking sex goddess and although she really didn't realize it; her new outfit and surely brought it out and revealed everything great about her body. It changed from the green attire to a totally black outfit. Her top was similar to her first genin top which was a simple black tank top; however unlike her genin top, this had no collar and had buckles at the side, clipping the top nice and tight around her body.

On her arms she had full length black gloves which had buckles in the middle of the lower arm and the upper arm, holding the slightly loose gloves in place. Her bottom half was made up of a pair of black tight fitting shorts which ended in the middle of the thigh had buckles on each leg in the middle, so the girl could adjust the shorts to her liking; the other half of her bottom outfit was a black skirt which was open at the front showing off her shorts and on the sides like the shorts, buckles were there for the girl to adjust as she felt. Of course like usual she had her head band tied to her leg holding one of her kunai holsters and on the other leg, a black leather strap buckled her other kunai pouch in place.

Covering her calves were knee high boots which like the rest of the outfit had two buckles on it to complete the look. Her hair had grown extremely long with it reaching just above her knee caps while the front lot of hair reached her mid back; of course the longer lot of her hair was tied into two buns like usual with two black hair ties, which also had buckles on them and around her neck was her choker, but it had changed from just a plain choker to one with a buckle on it and basically resembled a belt which she ironically also had on her hip to keep her shuriken pouch on her hip. And even though the outfit looked extremely tight on the girl it was incredibly comfortable and easy to move in, not to mention it makes no noise what so ever; which was another benefit for the girl; of course the girl had to wear her jounin vest of it; but that wasn't important and like all her outfits, it was weighted from the body attire right down to the hair ties and choker, but it seemed she never noticed, it's also great in water, since it doesn't way her down the slightest. **(A/N: See 'Ninja Saku 4' on profile)**

Then one morning she came to the Hokage's office and requested a solo mission; a mission to bring Uchiha Sasuke up. The Godaime had questioned why now she had requested this mission, and why it was a solo mission, but, all the girl answered, was 'his time is up and that she never backs down her promises'. This baffled all the other jounin in the room, as well as the Godaime, who insisted that she go as a team for this recon mission, but the blossom denied, and said if they were not going to give her the mission, she will go out and get him her self. With no choice, the Godaime agreed to the girl's request much to the shock of the people around them and let the girl go on the mission to bring back Uchiha Sasuke, the last Uchiha, the survivor, the traitor; although there was the condition that no matter what, she was to come back, with the Uchiha dead or alive; preferably alive though.

* * *

Now, early morning the girl was traveling to the Sound to bring back her old friend, like she had promised. Ahead of her was a Mizu Bunshin as a decoy, it's what she always used on solo missions when traveling large distances, the clone would race ahead and scout the area for any possible areas, and as soon as the sound of water splashing on the trees echoed through the forest, she knew that it was an enemy; it was a fail safe plan. Then traveling behind the water clone and another clone that would come out after it had been destroyed; most assuming that the next clone is the real person and attempt to kill it; once the sound of the clone exploding at echoed back to the girl, she could definitely confirm that there was an enemy; it may seem cowardly, but the girl wasn't interested in fighting others she was interested in completing the mission.

* * *

Half way to the sound, on the border of the Fire country, Sakura performed a genjutsu so no one could detect her coming; thus easier to avoid human contact; which explained why no one ever found her in the village; she was as good as invisible with the genjutsu cast. Jumping effortlessly through the trees the girl had made it to the sound base with in a couple of hours; record timing for the girl. Sighing, the girl prepared two clones, one a water clone the other a shadow clone, and allowed one to go in after the other before she followed them and looked around for the chamber where Sasuke was supposed to be; or at least Orochimaru or Kabuto, because if they were around, there was a chance Sasuke was close by. Still with genjutsu in play, the girl raced around the lair at incredible speeds checking rooms, opening and closing doors, going through the snake's lair with out a clue of where she was going, occasionally placing a well placed explosive tag or pour oil and other flammable liquids around the place. 

Then, as she passed one of the rooms, she could hear voices; Kabuto and Orochimaru conversing and it sounded like they were preparing for something.

"Now, Sasuke-kun, please hold still and don't worry about the binds; it's just to keep you in place during the transfer ritual" Kabuto explained; a growl erupting from some one's throat, obviously angry.

"Aww…come on Sasuke-kun, it won't take long, and as soon as this jutsu is done, we will destroy your brother" Orochimaru hissed and purred.

"Hn" It was definitely Sasuke, Sakura had no doubt in her mind; it seemed she came just in time, they were about to perform the transfer ritual, if the girl remembered what Orochimaru called it, it was called the Fushi Tensei **(1)**. Performing another set of hand seals, the girl whispered "Kanashibari no Jutsu**(2)**" and waited a few minutes before she was sure that the people inside the room were paralyzed before opening the chamber and walking in; shocking the people in the room. Her assumption was right, Kabuto and Orochimaru were around, if they were close by so was the Uchiha she had come for.

"Well, well, looks like I interrupted something here" Sakura smirked, watching the three males glare at her "I'm terribly sorry, but, I really should complete this mission I have" Sakura shrugged as she walked over to Sasuke.

"Tell me, Uchiha, do you remember the promise I made you five years ago?" Sakura asked knowing that the paralyzing jutsu had just worn off; behind her the four-eyed medic charging at her with a kunai; which was easily dodged.

"Get lost Sakura" Sasuke glared, emerald and black clashed as they each looked into each others eyes momentarily, Sasuke noticing the dullness of the eyes; even more than they used to be, there was longer that tiny sparkle in them in them any more, they were lifeless.

"Oh please, I didn't get up five in the morning this morning to be told to fuck off" Sakura scoffed, missing Kabuto's attack effortlessly.

"My, you seem to have improved from the chuunin exams" Orochimaru snickered.

"I would have hoped so" Sakura said, jumping up into the air to avoid Kabuto's attack and kicked him with her amazing strength right in the head, sending him to the opposite wall.

"So it would seem the rumours are true" Kabuto muttered as he stood back up "You have inherited the Godaime's strength"

"Among other things" Sakura smirked.

"But even the Godaime had trouble dealing with me last time we faced" Kabuto sneered.

"I'm not one to brag, but I guess you haven't heard that according to many shinobi, I have surpassed the Godaime two years after I became her apprentice" Sakura said.

"My, you are quite the talented girl" Orochimaru smirked.

"Whatever" Sakura muttered.

"Sakura, I said get lost, and I meant it" Sasuke glared; some what angry that the girl was moving so effortlessly.

"Since when have I ever listened to you?" Sakura questioned "Tell me something Uchiha, do you remember what I said before you left the village?"

"Why does it matter?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Do you really believe that Orochimaru will go after Itachi and kill him once this ritual is finished?" Sakura questioned.

"Of course" Sasuke replied.

"Man, you have gotten dumber over the years, even the dobe is smarter than you" Sakura scoffed, Sasuke glared "Think Uchiha, your _sensei_, Orochimaru is after your body for immortality, not to help you with your revenge, as soon as the ritual is over, I bet he will work on crushing Konoha not Itachi-"

"Shut up girl!" Kabuto and Orochimaru shouted.

"It seems they have something to hide Uchiha, if you want revenge, you would only be victorious if you your self did it, body and soul" Sakura glared. Suddenly; without warning, Kabuto hit Sakura with the chakra scalpel and stabbed her in the gut.

"Sakura" Sasuke gasped, some what worried for her, knowing he couldn't do anything in the binds. Watching the girl stand in pain and blood pouring, for some reason, sent the Uchiha's blood boiling, he actually had never seen the girl been fully wounded, he only saw the after affects. The curse seal spread over his body as his anger rose, in a matter of seconds the Uchiha broke free of the binds and kicked Kabuto away from the pink haired girl.

"So this is how it is Sasuke-kun? You attack my subordinate after all I have done for you just because of this pathetic little girl?" Orochimaru spat in disgust.

"I owe this little girl my life" Sasuke glared as he drew out his katana and prepared to kill in the man he had called sensei (though not to his face) for five years.

"Your life? Please" Orochimaru scoffed "This pink haired girl? What could she do?"

"Remind me that you are a bastard" Sasuke glared as he stabbed Orochimaru in the gut before coming back to back with Sakura "Thanks" Sasuke muttered.

"You're welcome, no if you'll excuse me, I'm going to beat up this medic wannabe and show him the powers of a _real_ medic" Sakura disappeared instantly and reappeared by Kabuto's side with a chakra scalpel of her own, hitting all of his important arteries, and cutting off circulation to his lungs.

"You're a medic?" Kabuto gasped.

"I am the Godaime's apprentice after all" Sakura smirked before killing him with a simple senbon needle to the heart, but the needle did have various toxins on it that could kill a person in a matter of seconds, Sakura's own concoction of course, who would have thought taking those little flowers she picked when she was younger with Ino would prove useful? Turning around, Sakura found Sasuke over the Snake Sannin's body with his katana in his heart.

* * *

"Now are you going to come back willingly or am I go to have to bring you back in a body bag?" Sakura questioned. 

"Sasuke-sama!" a woman gasped running into the room; behind her two men. The woman had red eyes, matching hair color and an unusual hairstyle; her hair is short and unkempt on one side, and long and combed on the other, behind her there was one male with shark like teeth, like Kisame, his hair is a white hair while his skin is pale; resembling that of a ghost in the girl's mind, the other male with brown hair and black eyes with a scary look plastered over his face.

"Sasuke-sama" the shark man gasped, noticing the pink haired girl in the room.

"Another person who trying to bring Sasuke back to Konoha?" the woman smirked, taking note of the Konoha head band and bringing out a kunai, tossing the kunai straight to the girl's heart "Another person to fail"

"On the contrary, whether it be dead or alive, I will bring him back, the orders weren't specific, they just wanted him back, preferably alive though" Sakura shrugged as she grabbed the kunai before it hit her body with two fingers before crushing it into a pile of rubble with her hand "Whoops, hope you didn't want that" Sakura smirked.

"Why you little-" the woman glared, to be stopped by Sasuke.

"That's enough Karin" Sasuke said.

"Sasuke-sama?" Karin turned to him, questioning why he stopped her.

"What's this? Sasuke-sama, stopping us from killing a little girl" the shark boy sneered; Sakura glared, she was definitely no little girl now.

"Suigetsu, Jugo that's enough" Sasuke glared, shutting both males up, noticing that the girl was going to explode and kill them if they weren't careful.

"Am I bringing you back in a body bag or not Uchiha?" Sakura questioned.

"Why you little-" Karin was stopped again by Sasuke.

"Let's go" Sasuke nodded as he watched the girl walk over to the dead bodies of Orochimaru and Kabuto.

"What happened to them?" Suigetsu questioned. Taking out her kunai, the girl effortlessly chopped of the heads of the two men, bagging them in separate body bags.

"W-was that really necessary?" Jugo questioned.

"I needed evidence that two S-class criminals had been killed, I'm not carrying two dead bodies, that is too troublesome and would way me down" Sakura answered.

"What they too heavy for you?" Karin sneered.

"On the contrary I can lift them with one finger together, but it would be too troublesome" Sakura answered, demonstrating that she could lift both with one finger "But, any shinobi knows, that if they need evidence of some one, they just have to remove the end, taking anything else would rise suspicion" Sakura smirked, implying they were stupid or dumb or weren't shinobi or a mixture of all three.

"You implying something there?" Jugo glared, the other two backing her up.

"Oh of course not, I wouldn't ever want to offend some one whom I have never met" Sakura said sarcastically.

"I see you haven't changed one bit" Sasuke smirked.

"That's your own judgment" Sakura scoffed, inspecting the wall before her, knocking on it slightly which echoed through the room.

"What are you doing?" Karin questioned.

"I suggest you cover your heads if you value them" Sakura said before she punched a hole in the wall which led directly to the outside.

"Was that really necessary?" Sasuke questioned watching the wall crumble.

"Hurry up Uchiha, I don't have all day" Sakura announced, walking out of the chamber and to the outside; with Sasuke right behind her.

"What? Sasuke-sama are you seriously going to just go home with this pathetic girl? You could be killed back there!" Karin exclaimed.

"That pathetic little girl just killed Kabuto without breaking a sweat" Sasuke answered.

"Yea, instead she got stabbed" Karin scoffed pointing to the stain of blood that was on her jounin vest; none of the actually realizing that the vest was a jounin. Walking out of the lair, the sound ninja and Sasuke were expecting like five other Konoha shinobi around, but all that was there was two Sakura clones, which were dispelled once the girl hit them over the head.

"I was kind of expecting an ANBU squad waiting outside" Suigetsu commented.

"This was a solo mission" Sakura said.

"What they sent a little pink haired chuunin on a solo mission?" Karin exclaimed "They must be desperate"

"First off, I'm a _jounin_, second I requested a solo mission since I was bored, third, this pink haired girl just stormed into the sound base without getting noticed once, fourth, if you don't shut up, I will _kill_ you" Sakura threatened "They said nothing about bringing back other subordinates, I just had to bring back Uchiha, they don't mind if a little bloodshed happens, and even if I do bring you back, there's nothing to guarantee your survival, people don't exactly trust sound"

"You're a jounin?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yes, Sasuke I am, three years after you left" Sakura answered before preparing four clones; two water clones and the other two shadow clones. One water clone and shadow clone already racing ahead.

"Konoha must be getting pretty weak then, if they are getting little girls become jounins of your size" Karin snickered.

"You want to test that theory?" Sakura glared, cracking her knuckles in a way that was totally unimaginable "Yes, correct I am probably younger than you, also shorter than you, but I can guarantee that you won't beat me"

"Please, I'm not fighting some one younger than me" Karin sneered.

"Then shut up" Sakura glared, before tying each ninja up quickly and attached all four to her belt "I'd advise for you to keep up, other wise this may be very painful"

"Wha-" Suddenly Sakura started moving and jumping through the trees and unimaginable speeds, the other two clones right behind her, dragging the sound ninjas with her; of course Sasuke was keeping up but with struggle.

"Sakura, stop would you, my subordinates are starting to get really beaten up" Sasuke requested. On request Sakura stopped, watching the three sound ninjas slowly drag their bodies to where she was.

"Why do you talk to her so nicely while she doesn't?" Karin glared at the girl.

"She's my ex-team mate; I can talk to her how I wish" Sasuke answered.

"Ex-team mate? What about us?" Suigetsu scoffed.

"Now, I advise for you to keep up, I'm not waiting for you, I could care less; I'm just doing my mission" Sakura announced before racing through the woods again, admittedly it was slower, but it was still hard to keep up with. By midnight, after constant begging, the blossom decided to stop and let them rest. Tossing them a can of food each, she let them do as they pleased; still on their leads though, one would have thought to just cut them; but Sakura had already thought of that and tied them up with unbreakable ropes. The sharpening of the girl's kunai was the only sound around the camp site; aside the crackling of fire and the breathing. Sighing to herself, the girl healed the wound Kabuto gave her, almost forgetting about it, as well as fixing the places which he hit with the chakra scalpel. Closing her eyes the girl's hearing focused on what the people around her were doing. Sasuke was doing nothing as were the rest, but she could feel Karin glaring at her; the pink haired girl found it quite hilarious though. Allowing the people around her to sleep, the girl kept watch over the camp site, waiting for sun to hit her in the forest.

* * *

As the sun glared down on the girl, the group of five were already moving, slower than Sakura had hoped, but what could she do with four pathetic ninjas traveling with her; this was exactly why she hated traveling in teams, it was trouble some, useless and time consuming. 

"Hurry up" Sakura shouted "We are falling behind schedule already"

"What? You have a schedule to all this?" Karin exclaimed.

"More or less, yes, I was hoping to get back to Konoha two hours after we left" Sakura sighed.

"That's impossible" Sasuke scoffed, the sound ninjas agreeing with him.

"I was given this mission two days ago and left at five in the morning yesterday. And arrived at the sound base at roughly seven, far be it from me but, I would call that two hours wouldn't you" Sakura said.

"I still say it's impossible" Karin muttered _'Damn, what I would kill to kill her'_ Karin glared at the girl.

"That's your choice" Sakura said, suddenly stopping and glaring at the distance.

"Why'd you stop? Tired?" Karin sneered.

"Shut up woman" Sakura glared, her bunshins, both of them had exploded, an enemy was near by "Some one's close by" Sakura said.

"What makes you think that?" Suigetsu questioned.

"My fail safe plan, if they bunshins are destroyed, both of them, then some one must be after either me, or my goods" Sakura smirked before performing her genjutsu and continued moving.

"And so you are going to run straight into the enemy?" Jugo questioned.

"I bet you anything they won't see me or you guys passing by them" Sakura smirked. Minutes later, they passed a rouge ninja, who was looking for the real cherry blossom, who was passing right over them.

"Told you" Sakura smirked, she was basically in the guy's face but he did nothing to attack her, before dispelling the jutsu. As they passed the half way mark to Konoha, five grass shinobi stopped them and challenged them to a fight. Without any choice, Sakura released the sound ninjas of their binds to fight, since she wasn't exactly going to fight them all by her self…besides there was a chance that one would kill that annoying girl. Unfortunately for the girl, they did survive and she had no choice but to stop, she had no intention of bringing half dead shinobi to Konoha. Performing the appropriate seals, she healed each one, deciding that they should rest for a bit.

"Tell me, what are you intending to do? Karin, Jugo, Suigetsu?" Sakura questioned.

"I'm following Sasuke-sama" Karin said.

"I haven't got a clue" Jugo shrugged.

"You're the one that Orochimaru made the curse seal off correct?" Sakura questioned.

"How did-"

"I have my ways, you have multiple personalities correct? The desire to kill occasionally right?" Sakura questioned.

"Yes" Jugo admitted.

"I'm sorry but I can not allow a killing rampage to come waltzing into Konoha" Sakura said.

"Nani?" Jugo exclaimed.

"However, if the Godaime allows it, I will bring you into the village to try and figure out how to fix your problem" Sakura said.

"You would really do that? You can do that?" Jugo questioned.

"Yes I would, and yes I can, I'm a medic Nin" Sakura answered.

"Just because you're a medic doesn't mean you are good" Karin scoffed.

"You know the Godaime correct? The best medic of all time apparently" Sakura questioned.

"Yea, I know of her" Karin nodded.

"_I_ surpassed her _two years_ ago" Sakura smirked.

"How could you-"

"I was her apprentice, but I surpassed her two years after becoming her apprentice, but that's according to the shinobi from each country" Sakura shrugged "What about you Suigetsu? What are you going to do?"

"If possible, I want to go back to my home country" Suigetsu answered.

"What for?" Sakura asked.

"Personal" Suigetsu answered.

"I see, well I can't let you just leave on your own at the chance you could kill some one, so we will be making a detour to your home country, the Wave I presume?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, that is correct" Suigetsu nodded.

"Alright, get to sleep, as soon as dawn comes, we will move our way to the wave country" Sakura announced, jumping up onto the tree, presumably to watch for enemies "This is the longest mission I have had in a long time" Sakura muttered.

"Longest mission?" Sasuke questioned "If you're jounin don't missions last at least a week?"

"Not for me, two three days at max" Sakura answered; suddenly a hawk swooped down and landed on the girl's head "Message? Guyver, wait a sec ne?" Sakura muttered as she took the note from the hawk, asking it to wait a moment.

"Tch, they know me too well, I've been gone two days and they know something is up" Sakura smirked, getting out a pen and paper to reply.

'_Sorry for the delay, I have Uchiha Sasuke in my custody as well as three of his subordinates, I will be dropping one off at wave, and the other two will be in my custody until then, prepare a room in the psychiatric ward for my return please. Again, my apologies for my lateness._

_Sakura of the leaf'_

"That should do, here Guyver" Sakura smiled as she put the note in the little messenger pouch on its leg "You may go now Guyver" Sakura nodded, before patting the bird on its head and letting it fly back to Konoha.

"Guyver?" Sasuke smirked.

"Guyver's my own hawk, yea, found him on the way back to Konoha from one of my missions, he just followed me home I guess" Sakura shrugged "He's a pretty good bird too, perfect for when I do a team mission with him"

"Team? Aren't you supposed to work on _human_ squads?" Sasuke questioned.

"Guyver's more reliable" Sakura answered "Go get some sleep, I want to be back home by tomorrow" Sakura said, watching Sasuke jump off the branch, noticing a sudden chill fall upon her from Karin _'Geez, what did I do?'_

Sakura looked around at each member of this weird group, trying to remember if she had heard anything about them. She had heard of them before, they all at one stage worked for Orochimaru. Most of this information of course was found conveniently during her missions. Geez, people these days just don't know when to keep their mouth shut, they never known when a wall will be listening, Sakura taking the saying 'walls have ears' to a whole new meaning. Many people talked about the people from sound, these just happened to be one of them, of course never seeing them in person before this, Sakura had no clue of who they were, but she knew they were sound ninjas, and when she heard Sasuke call them by their names, she immediately got her brain working on where she had heard those names before.

First was Jugo that her eyes ran over. Unique Traits: Body produces enzymes that transform him into a monstrous creature. Jugo is the largest of the three members that comprise Sasuke's team, Snake. Jugo was being held at Orochimaru's North Base, which is also where most of Orochimaru's secret research was conducted. Jugo is the means behind Orochimaru's development of the cursed seals. Some time in the past, Jugo purposely sought out Orochimaru to cure him of his "impulses". Jugo has trouble controlling his rage, which unexpectedly causes him to transform into a berserk demon (much like a cursed seal does to its user). Upon examination, Orochimaru was able to isolate enzymes in Jugo's blood as the cause of this change. By extracting these enzymes, Orochimaru was able to use them to produce similar, but more controlled, effects in other people.

While Jugo initially appeared quite bloodthirsty, Sakura noted that this is only common behavior for the enraged; Jugo himself doesn't want to kill anyone. Jugo's fits of rage are random and thus the reason why he willingly remains confined. Why he followed the Uchiha was beyond the girl, but she wasn't really one to care anyway. Jugo has a bracket-shaped symbol on his left palm. Apparently this guy can control his transformations unlike the standard curse seal. If Sakura remembered, she heard that during a raid, some scroll was stolen, and so they wanted it back of course.

Next, Karin. Oh how she already hated the woman, only knowing her for about 24 hours. Unique Traits: Able to locate and track others. Karin was a former subordinate of Orochimaru who assisted him in his experimentations and was left in charge of one of his bases while he was away; and was also the only one loyal to Orochimaru to remain. She has red eyes, matching hair color and an unusual hairstyle; her hair is short and unkempt on one side, and long and combed on the other. Karin will at times appear tough and in control and other times she is flirtatious.

Karin's special ability allows her to track specific individuals through chakra, seen when she is able to discern that Jugo is not among a crowd of prisoners through the standard concentration pose for molding chakra. It also allows her to pick up chakra from long distances and notice changes in an individual's chakra. No matter how good she was with chakra tracking, in Sakura's opinion, she was still very hopeless if she couldn't fight, and she had yet to prove to the girl that she could fight well. No one had spoken of her strength, just her traits, and how she clung to the Uchiha, information she picked up, passing the Uchiha fangirls, how they knew of it, she would never know, but if she did hear correctly, the fangirls were absolutely jealous and enraged that Sasuke had picked Karin as a subordinate, saying she was absolutely hideous.

Finally, Suigetsu; unique traits: Able to reduce him self to a liquid form and can change the size of his limbs. Suigetsu is a former experimental subject of Orochimaru. Suigetsu's teeth are shark-like, much like Zabuza Momochi's and Kisame Hoshigaki's. Suigetsu's name means "water moon", a reference to something that can be seen but not grasped, as the moon reflected in water is. Suigetsu is able to reduce himself to liquid form and to return to bodily form at will. This ability also allows him to change his body shape, giving him the ability to increase the size of his limbs, proportionally increasing his strength, if necessary. It also makes striking him somewhat difficult; since he is made of liquid, any sufficiently powerful strike will go right through his watery form. He is arguably quite powerful or at least very confident in his abilities, since he has threatened Sasuke on more than one occasion.

Kisame Hoshigaki even commented on Suigetsu being a prodigy at the art of murder and the next Zabuza Momochi as he commented that Suigetsu had a habit of chopping off his victim's limbs before beheading them. Suigetsu is also the first ninja seen carrying water bottles on his outfit. Given his somewhat frequent desire to consume water, Suigetsu may require regular hydration to sustain his watery form. Now this one, this piece of information was quite interesting on how she picked up on it. First it was in the wave country when she was heading home. Then on another mission through the wind country, she heard of people talking about the seven swordsmen or something and how there was a guy after them. Then in the Tea country, when ironically she was getting tea from there, she heard that a recent attack had occurred by a person who could change their form from solid to liquid. People and their big mouths these days.

Yes, she would admit, together they'd make a good team, however if left alone for too long the only ones who would survive in Sakura's opinion would be Jugo and Sasuke, Suigetsu is too reliant on water and Karin, well she's just pathetic.

* * *

Like the pink haired girl had said, as soon as dawn came, Sakura had kicked them out of their sleep, and forced them to start running through the woods to the wave country, fortunately for them, the wave country was just outside where they were, and so it only took half a day to get to the wave country and find the Hidden Mist, which ironically was past the wave village that she went to for her first mission and the last time that she saw Zabuza. They were granted immediate access into the village, courtesy of Sakura being the Godaime's apprentice and because Tazuna just happened to be walking by at the time and insisted they stay the night, and so here they were, spending the night in a village Sakura hadn't planned on. Without any choice, the girl admitted defeat and agreed to stay the afternoon but not the night, taking the opportunity to visit her first sensei, even if they were going to pass this village soon to head for the mist. 

"It's been so long since I have been here" Sakura muttered from the top of the hill where they buried Zabuza and Haku, a bouquet of flowers in her hand for the each of them. Placing the flowers down, the girl smiled a tiny smile of gratitude before walking off.

"We owe you so much Sakura-san, if it wasn't for you and your team we wouldn't be here right now" Tazuna smiled.

"You're welcome" Sakura nodded.

"Sakura-nee-chan, come on, I want you to see how far I have gotten, I'm going to become a ninja just like Naruto-nii-chan" Inari grinned.

"Of course, let's go, however, those four must come with me" Sakura announced as she got up, as the other four grudgingly got up and followed the little boy to the training area where Team seven learned how to control their chakra better.

"Look, Sakura-nee-chan!" Inari exclaimed as he gathered his chakra before he raced up the tree, surpassing Naruto's limit from the first time she saw him and about half way up, almost beating Sasuke's first attempt.

"Well done" Sakura smiled, suddenly another being jumped onto her, hugging her tightly.

"Nee-chama you're back!" a little girl squeaked.

"Eh?" Sakura muttered and looked down at the little recognizing her as the one she gave some money, candy and that grey jumper she had on her at the time "Oh you're that little girl"

"Yup! I wanted to thank you so much, because of what you gave us, my family was able to afford the medical treatment and food to survive" the girl smiled.

"Well, you're welcome" Sakura nodded.

"Aren't you popular with the kids" Karin smirked.

"Technically, I still am one" Sakura said "Ano, Inari, your Kaa-san probably wants you home now, come on, you too little girl" Sakura said as she dropped off the little kids with the four ninjas behind her.

"I can't believe how out of schedule I am for this mission, it's unbelievable" Sakura sighed.

"You should know a ninja should never live by schedule" Karin sneered.

"My missions last up to two days, I have never had anything longer, even if they were S-ranked" Sakura muttered "Hurry up, we are going to go" Sakura announced.

* * *

By the end of the night, they had reached the Hidden Mist, and of course she was granted access into the village and headed straight for where the kage of the village would be at, so to drop off this err…shark man into the right custody, before she forced the remaining three to follow her without a break for rest, and so they arrived at Konoha by dawn the next day. 

"I don't believe this, we traveled all night, and you have yet to break a sweat or show a sign of fatigue" Karin muttered glaring at the girl as they walked into the North gate of the village where two jounins were sitting keeping watch to make sure no one unexpected came in. Noticing the girl come past the gates, they came from their posts and kneeled before her.

"Hello Sakura-sama" the jounins bowed.

"Sakura-sama?" Sasuke questioned.

"Isn't that a bit much for a pathetic little-"

"If you want to keep your head around here, I advise you just keep quiet for now" Sakura whispered as she clamped the girl's mouth shut.

"Can you tell the Godaime to call an ANBU squad to her office?" Sakura requested.

"Of course, Sakura-sama" the jounins nodded before one disappeared, Sakura following as she walked around the village and to the Godaime's office with Sasuke on her trail, as well as Karin and Jugo.

* * *

"My, my, when you requested to being the Uchiha back, I was quite shocked, but I can see that you knew what you were doing" Tsunade smirked "However, what took you so long, and who the hell are these two?" 

"Of course I knew what I was doing" Sakura shrugged as four ANBU shinobi appeared in the room "As I did say in that note, I was dropping an unexpected traveler with me to mist, as for these two, they are subordinates of Uchiha, they intend to follow him or something"

"Hokage-sama" they bowed "Sakura-sama" they bowed again.

"What the hell is with this whole Sakura-sama business? She ain't that great? I bet I could beat her in a second given the chance" Karin scoffed, before two of the ANBU personnel raced towards ready to kill her.

"Enough" Sakura ordered. Instantly, the ANBU personnel released Karin, but stood behind her.

"ANBU taking orders from a jounin, now I have seen it all" Karin muttered.

"That's enough Karin" Sasuke glared.

"Hai, Sasuke-sama"

"Oh, by the way" Sakura tossed the two body bags towards the ANBU captain "That's the heads of Orochimaru and Kabuto, I'm not to sure about the sound base, but it should be exploding soon, I set up various exploding tags and other things" Sakura smirked.

"You always like to go out with a bang don't you Sakura-chan" Tsunade sighed.

"Well…I had to occupy some time" Sakura smirked evilly.

"Tsunade-sama, the sound base has just crumbled and exploded!" a chuunin exclaimed as he ran into the room, it was Kiba with Naruto behind him.

"Don't worry, I have already been informed of that" Tsunade sighed.

"Nani?! It just happened basically!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Sakura-chan told me about it" Tsunade explained.

"How could _she_ know about it?" Kiba questioned, obviously still not happy that she became a chuunin before him.

"Because, Kiba, _I_ planted the explosive tags and other things while I was there" Sakura answered. It seemed neither boy had realized she was behind them, turning around, the two boys were shocked to find Sakura with Sasuke right behind her, tied like a dog on a leash.

"What do you mean you were there?!" Kiba and Naruto exclaimed.

"What is teme doing here?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I mean I was there, how else do you think Sasuke got here?" Sakura glared.

"But every other time we went to collect Sasuke you never were any help!" Kiba glared.

"Because I wasn't going to break my promise" Sakura scoffed, taking the ropes off her waist and handing it to the ANBU head "Here you go, I'm going home, I have enough of being under minded around here" and with that the cherry blossom was out of their sight, with cherry blossoms in her path.

"What the hell?" Tsunade muttered "Anyway, Uchiha Sasuke, I'm sure you are more than aware that you left the village five years ago and went to an S-class criminal for power, thus you became a missing-nin, what do you have to say for your self?"

"I went to him for strength and I got it" Sasuke said.

"I'm sure you are aware of the punishments, however because you do come from a noble clan in the village the punishment won't be as severe" Tsunade said "And what of your subordinates?"

"I intend to stay in Konoha by Sasuke-sama's side" Karin said.

"That Sakura-girl said she could help me with my problem, that's why I am here" Jugo said.

"Shizune, can you go find Sakura-chan for me?" Tsunade asked.

"Hai" Shizune nodded, racing out of the room, coming back in a matter of minutes with the girl.

"Okay, what do you want?" Sakura sighed; in her hands was a bag of food.

"You brought this man for to help him?" Tsunade questioned

"Yea, the curse seal came from him, I think I have a way to remove him self of the problem" Sakura said "Is the room prepared?"

"Of course"

"Jugo wasn't it? Follow the ANBU personnel to the room I've prepared for you" Sakura said.

"Hai" Jugo nodded.

"Now, Sakura, the other reason we called you, I want your honest opinion on what should be done about the Uchiha and his remaining subordinate" Tsunade spoke.

"I'm not the Godaime, ask the elders or some one else, I have no opinion in the matter" Sakura said.

"Please, you just don't want him to get punished" Kiba sneered as the ANBU walked out of the room with the Orochimaru and Kabuto heads, Jugo following them.

"Why would I want that?" Sakura questioned.

"You have emotional ties towards the guy, it's so obvious" Kiba scoffed, the ANBU captain coming back into the office.

"Now, I really am lost" Sakura sighed "But if you really want my opinion, here it is, yes he should be punished for treason, I admit, however if you sentence him to death, great military power at Konoha's hands will be lost, but if he remains alive there is a chance that he will be leave the village again for a more powerful being, however the first seems far worse to Konoha currently. As my advice, probation seems like the only option, have ANBU squads around him constantly, put him under house arrest for a couple of months and only under a good behaviour bond will his punishment be lessened, as for being promoted to anything or gaining the rank he left with back, that is not my decision, as for his subordinate, I believe, as long as Uchiha is in the village, she will remain loyal to him, and this village" Sakura answered.

"Well done Sakura-chan, that's what I was waiting for" Tsunade smirked.

"Excuse me?" Sakura questioned.

"People have requested that you become an ANBU, however people are also questioning if at your age you should become one-"

"I don't want to be one, but thanks for the offer" Sakura said.

"You would let _her_ become an ANBU?!" Kiba growled.

"What about me? Shouldn't I become an ANBU?" Naruto whined.

"You have to become a jounin first" Tsunade sighed.

"Then why is Sakura-chan being offered the job?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Dobe, if you haven't realized she is a jounin" Sasuke sighed.

"Nani? When did Sakura-chan become a jounin?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Naruto, I have been a jounin for two years now" Sakura sighed.

"Catch up with the times" Tsunade also sighed.

"Did you know about this Kiba?" Naruto questioned.

"Not at all" Kiba grumbled.

"Did Kakashi-sensei know about this?" Or Ero sennin?" Naruto questioned.

"What did we know about?" Jiraya and Kakashi questioned as they appeared in the office.

"That Sakura-chan is a jounin" Naruto answered.

"WHAT?!?!?!?! Why did no one tell me my student was a jounin?!" Kakashi exclaimed as he checked Sakura's vest to find it was a jounin vest.

"You never asked" Sakura sighed "Didn't you find it odd that I have been on so many solo missions lately?" Sakura questioned.

"Tsunade you let this girl on solo missions?!" Jiraya exclaimed.

"If doubt me so fucking much I dare each and every single one of you to come up against me in a sparring match" Sakura glared.

"On second thought, I believe you" Kakashi sweat dropped, hearing that she had inherited the Godaime's strength and surpassed her…but for some reason nothing about her being a jounin.

"Men" Sakura and Tsunade muttered. Suddenly Sasuke coughed, reminding them of why they were there.

"Oh right, Sasuke, I'm sure you remember what Sakura said, you are on probation for five months without any missions and house arrest for two months, and if by chance that you get off on good behaviour then we will discuss re-instating you back as a Konoha shinobi and a chuunin, as for your subordinate, she will remain in custody for the time being and will be on probation for two months, and after that we will see if she is suitable to be in Konoha" Tsunade announced.

"Great, now that's done, can I go? Preferably now, before the market closes?!" Sakura seem to have a glare begging to come out.

"Oh, right, of course" Tsunade sweatdropped, watching the girl disappear through the door mumbling about how she couldn't just go and buy groceries when she needed them these days without being interrupted by someone.

* * *

It was early morning, and like always the cherry blossom had gotten up during the early hours of the morning to keep to her strict training schedule. Now by twelve in the after noon, Sakura had to break a sweat as she continued to train, seeing it was her day off, after she had just come back form a mission and had no work at the hospital. How lucky. Taking a breathe, the girl decided to call it quits for the morning and go find something to eat; considering her stomach was practically begging for her to eat something. Sighing the girl packed up her gear and left the training spot (which was ironically the last training spot she and the Uchiha had shared when they were younger) going into town for something to eat considering her fridge was currently empty. 

Walking around the market, Sakura smiled to herself as she picked out the really cheap groceries and paid for them before walking away from the market and walking home. At about half way through the town, where no one was around, a kunai was thrown towards her, alerting the girl who dodged it effortlessly, but her groceries just happened to get in the rain of fire. _'Why my groceries? Do people not want me to eat?!'_ Sakura muttered inwardly before she faced her attacker; it was a Konoha ninja, a chuunin if Sakura remembered correctly and she worked with the person.

"Nani? What do you want?" Sakura sighed as she picked up her destroyed groceries and tossed them into the bin.

"Sorry to disturb you Sakura-sama, but the Godaime wishes to meet with you" the chuunin spoke before disappearing, not wanting to feel the wrath of the girl.

"What'd I do now?" Sakura muttered as she disappeared from sight.

It had been roughly six months after she brought Sasuke back to the village, Karin had been accepted into the village, but people still held distrust for her, and so she was only allowed to do D-ranked missions for now, but they were never with Sasuke which angered her greatly, especially when she found out Sakura had been assigned with him for various missions. Jugo had been cleared of his condition, with Sakura using the transfer seal on him, taking the whole thing into her body, which the demon inside her immediately got rid of, but she still wanted to test it for a bit to make sure he was safe to live in society and wouldn't break out in a killing rampage.

* * *

Instantly the girl appeared in the Hokage's office, angry that she had disturbed her on her day off. 

"Okay, what do you want me for? This had better be good" Sakura glared at the Godaime; even if she was her teacher at one stage, she never actually called her sensei or anything.

"Aww, such hostilities towards your teacher?" Tsunade frowned.

"You don't hear Kakashi complaining" Sakura shrugged.

"But I do complain" a voice coughed. Turning around, the girl became quite shocked to find all three members of Team seven sitting behind her; noticing aside from Kakashi and Sai, they had new outfits; Naruto's was still that orange jumper and pants combo but instead of blue it was black in some places and Sasuke wore a black high, wide collared shirt with back pants; tossing away his sound outfit. It was Kakashi who spoke.

"Okay, what do you want?" Sakura turned her attention back to Tsunade.

"Don't ask me, they just asked me to call you here" Tsunade shrugged.

"Okay so what do you want?" Sakura asked.

"We wanted to see you Sakura-chan" Naruto frowned "We have barely seen you since you brought teme back"

"And that was at least six months ago" Sai added.

"I have been busy" Sakura frowned.

"None the less, you never meet us at the bridge any more" Kakashi frowned.

"We've been meeting at the bridge again?" Sakura questioned.

"Well…sort of, but the point is that we never see you" Kakashi said.

"Like I said, I have been busy-"

"Not that busy lately Sakura-chan" Tsunade said.

'_Tsunade and her big mouth'_ Sakura glared at her teacher without facing her.

"Look, if that's all you wanted to tell me, aside the fact that I also noticed that, can I please go, I have to go buy new groceries since a certain chuunin decided to decapitate the last lot I bought ten minutes ago" Sakura muttered as she began walking out of the office.

"Chotto matte, Sakura-chan, you never took us up on the offer to eat ramen-"

"Yes I did, when you guys tried to find out what Kakashi's face looked like you and Sasuke dragged me to the ramen stall-"

"You didn't eat then and you left" Sasuke scoffed.

"Yea…well…"

"Oh come on Ugly, it won't kill you to come out once in a while, apparently all you have been doing is missions, hospital work and training, you have no fun" Sai smirked. Although Sai called her Ugly, he knew he was far from the truth, she was gorgeous, she was an angel in black; she was beautiful.

"So now I am getting criticized about how _I_ live _my_ life?" Sakura questioned.

"Sakura-chan, they have been in here for the past _five_ days trying to find you, please just hang out with them for a while, I want them gone" Tsunade pleaded.

"Fine" Sakura sighed; at the first sound of her agreeing to hang out with her the three males lunged at her and dragged her to the training areas of team seven.

"If you wanted to train you could have just said so" Sakura sighed.

"Not train, a little game" Sasuke scoffed.

"Of what??" Sakura asked.

"Us four against you, I'm sure you remembered that game of tag you played with team Gai when you were younger, if we haven't caught you in three days time you win, if you lose, you hang out with us for the next week or so" Kakashi smirked.

"For the love of!" Sakura glared, shuddering the last time she played this game "Fine" Sakura sighed before she disappeared; in her mind it was a simple excuse to get away from them; and with no choice she went back home and trained there, a place where they would never find her since it's got a genjutsu over it.

* * *

By the end of the three days, the team had failed to find the girl, let alone capture and now they were at the bridge sighing in defeat, wondering where exactly she was hiding, when she came walking past, not even noticing that they were there. Shocked that she just randomly passed by, they all immediately jumped on her, pulling her to the ground. 

"Get off me now" Sakura muttered.

"Aww…but we just caught you Sakura-chan" Naruto frowned.

"Caught me?" Sakura questioned, she was obviously confused on what they were talking about.

"Remember three days ago?" Kakashi questioned.

"Oh yea that…You were serious?" Sakura exclaimed "Besides, technically it's passed the three days if you're counting it by time"

"What?" Naruto exclaimed.

"She's right" Sasuke sighed.

"Well…now that is done and over with-"

"Sakura-sama" a chuunin bowed at her feet, which shocked her a bit…the whole 'Sakura-sama' thing was still new to the girl.

"Err…yea?" Sakura questioned.

"The Godaime-sama requested you in her office with Team seven immediately" the chuunin spoke.

"Hai, Arigato" Sakura nodded, walking to the Hokage's office with the team seven males behind her.

* * *

"What is it this time?" Sakura questioned. 

"Remember that farm I sent you guys to roughly five years ago?" Tsunade questioned.

"Hai" Naruto nodded.

"Well, it's in need of repairs-"

"Don't tell me, you are sending us to go fix it up" Sakura muttered.

"You were always a sharp girl Sakura" Tsunade smirked.

"This is basically a D-ranked mission; why not get some genin to fix it up?" Sakura questioned.

"Believe my, I would, but…there are none around" Tsunade sighed.

"Then let those three go, it doesn't take two jounin, an ex-ANBU and two chuunins to fix up a farm" Sakura said "I'm gone" Sakura announced before walking out of the office.

"Well I tried and failed, she's too clever to accept D-ranked missions" Tsunade sighed.

"Geez, what happened to her over five years" Kakashi sighed.

"You can't exactly make a comment since you never actually taught her" Sasuke scoffed.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right" Kakashi sighed.

"You're on your own now, I can't stop the whole village because you want to see the girl" Tsunade said, kicking them out of her office. As soon as they were out of their office, a squeal irrupted from them.

"Sasuke-sama" Karin squealed, glomping him with her form, making sure to rub her body against him seductively.

"Where have I seen this seen before?" a voice questioned. It was Shikamaru, with the other two of team ten behind him.

"Oh, yea, in the chuunin exams with Ino" Shikamaru sighed before getting hit over the head by Ino, who went up to Sai and hugged him, who hugged back.

"Get off me Karin" Sasuke glared as Team eight came walking up to them.

"Aww…he's still popular with the girls" Kiba snickered, happy that she wasn't on him.

"Have any of you guys seen Sakura-chan?" Ino asked.

"Yea, we haven't seen her in ages and we want to hang out" Hinata added in Naruto's arms.

"I'll say, heck we can't even find her when she's training" a voice added, behind them was Tenten, hand in hand with Neji and Lee behind them.

"Yea, we saw about ten minutes ago for a mission briefing, but when she heard it was going to be a D-ranked team mission Ugly stormed off" Sai said.

"If you don't mind, I would appreciate if you didn't talk about me like that" Behind them was Sakura, glare and all, with her bird on her shoulder.

"What are you doing here? You just left ten minutes ago?" Naruto questioned.

"I'm wondering that myself; Guyver came for me" Sakura said, motioning at the bird on her shoulder "I was about to start work at the hospital too, oh well" Sakura sighed opening the door.

* * *

"Tsunade, what do you want?" Sakura asked. 

"I was wondering how far you have gotten with Jugo's treatment" Tsunade said.

"It's progressing well. I have removed the cause and symptom, I am just checking to see if he will be safe in civilization, if you don't mind, I want to see how he will react with a few more people in his cell, everything seems fine, he has lost the killing instinct, I am positive, however tests will need to run to make sure that my suspicions are correct" Sakura answered.

"Good, then you can start on this paper work for me" Tsunade smirked, handing her a piece of paper.

"Fine" Sakura muttered, carrying the big pile of paper work out of the office, where her friends were still outside.

* * *

"This is the Hokage's job, why am I doing it?" she muttered, not realizing people were around her. 

"Hokage's job?" Naruto questioned.

"Paper work" Sakura muttered.

"What a great job for a jounin" Karin smirked.

"Can I do it?" Naruto questioned.

"It was given to for a reason, Tsunade is too lazy, and she knows I know how to sort this stuff out, after going through it numerous times for her" Sakura muttered "I doubt you would know what do to with it, ja" Sakura waved slightly, walking away.

"Matte, Sakura-chan, can we hang out?" Tenten asked.

"An all girls night?" Ino requested.

"It would fabulous to know how you are doing? Especially for a to be ANBU" Hinata pleaded.

"To be ANBU?" Sakura frowned not understanding.

"Rumours have gone around that you are trying out for the ANBU squad" Neji explained.

"Excuse me for a second" Sakura muttered, storming back into the Hokage's office.

* * *

"Tsunade, tell me why there are rumours of me going into the ANBU exams going around?" Sakura glared at the woman. 

"Not the exams, the village elders have already decided to promote you to ANBU" Tsunade muttered.

"WHAT?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"You heard me, they want you to become an ANBU personnel, preferably the head captain, they reckon you are ready for it" Tsunade explained.

"And if I decline?" Sakura questioned.

"They said you can't" Tsunade explained.

"How annoying, I am so gone" Sakura muttered, walking back out, some how with two bundles of paperwork, courtesy of Tsunade herself.

* * *

"So, are you going to be an ANBU?" Hinata questioned. 

"I don't even get a say in the matter" Sakura muttered.

"Don't most people have to go through exams for to be an ANBU?" Neji questioned.

"Tsunade said something about the village elders wanting me to be the ANBU head captain" Sakura glared to where she presumed the village elders were currently.

"Without even taking the tests?" Kiba exclaimed.

"Don't complain to me, I declined six months ago to be an ANBU, and I'm still declining, if I'm going to be an ANBU I'll take the exams for it like everyone else" Sakura muttered "Now, I really am going before I get any more paper work, or learn something I really shouldn't"

And with that the Cherry Blossom exploded into thin air, leaving a cloud of smoke, and were those cherry blossoms petals? Oh ironic.

"Since when do people get promoted to ANBU head captain without even taking the exams?" Neji asked, in jealously.

"I have no idea, but the villager elders know what they are doing, I hope" Ino sighed.

* * *

Two days, that's all it took for the girl to go completely insane from the paper work, but none-the-less she finished it straight away, going two days straight, living on coffee, before she discharged Jugo into society, but he had to have an ANBU squad with him at all times. By late night, Sakura wobbled into the Hokage's office, dumped the paper on the desk and wobbled back out of the office, ready for a good nights sleep when team Gai as well as the other rookie nine and Karin and Jugo stood there waiting for something, presumably her. 

"No I will not hang out with you now, it's late, and I'm tired, good night" Sakura muttered walking away, suddenly she was lifted into the air by the jounin vest and held there for about a minute.

"Please, I have been doing paper work for two days, heck I even got Jugo released, I have not had an ounce of sleep, let me go home and sleep" Sakura pleaded.

"That's why we are taking you now, you are weak, tired and vulnerable, perfect time to force you to hang out with us" Ino smirked.

"Besides, it's Christmas Eve" Hinata smirked.

"Let me go Sasuke" Sakura glared, a glare that could kill a person so many times the numbers aren't exact, it was a deadly glare, so wanting to save his own butt, Sasuke let go of the girl, trying to ignore Karin snuggling close to him.

"Come on Sakura-chan, its Christmas Eve, a time to spend with friends and family" Tenten begged, holding onto the girl's shoulder.

"Pft. Just leave me alone" Sakura growled as she got out of Tenten's grasp and walked away from them.

* * *

"Tch, what family?" Sakura muttered from above the tree tops, obviously hiding. She was trying to forget that Christmas was coming, she did her best to ignore the decorations and such that hung endlessly around the villages, as well as in every other village, that's why she requested missions, missions to make her forget that she had no family to spend Christmas with, sure she had friends, but what did they know about her? That she was a jounin? A strong one too? They knew nothing about her in her opinion, but that's because she didn't want anyone to get close to her heart again, last time she did that five years ago they abandoned her, like her family did. She preferred to be alone than be with people who reminded her of how alone she was. She regretted killing those murderers of the clan, they would have killed her, but they didn't because she killed them first. She cursed at her own stupidity, her own pathetic-ness. 

Sensing an in coming chakra, the girl honed on it, preparing to vanish into thin air, but was caught before she could. It was unfamiliar, but she knew immediately who it was, it held great hatred for her, and if Sakura didn't know any better, perhaps it might have been jealousy bubbling through that chakra. There was no doubt about it, it was definitely Karin.

"What do you want?" Sakura questioned.

"I'm telling you now, you get in the way of me and Sasuke-sama and I will kill you" Karin threatened. Sakura chuckled.

"Take a ticket and get in line, I have gotten that threat many times before, but it has been a while since I've had that come to me" Sakura sneered

"You little bitch" Karin growled.

"If you want me dead, seriously wait your turn, it's currently at the 25069th Sasuke fangirl who's been sent to kill me, so you would be roughly 3048482872nd on the list, however I advise you do keep your mouth shut, you are still on probation here, if they wanted, they could kill you at any moment, come back to when you actually pose a slight threat" Sakura muttered behind her before disappearing.

"Tch, what could she do?" Karin scoffed before going back to the village.

* * *

**Notes:**

- What do you think? I liked it slightly : )

- Well, I hope you liked. RxR, no flaming.

-Gah! It feels like my chapters are getting shorter and short -cries and wails-

**Translations:**

**1) ****Fushi Tensei-** literally "Living Corpse Reincarnation"  
Type: Kinjutsu, S-class, Supplementary  
This Kinjutsu, developed by Orochimaru, allows him to transfer his mind to someone else's body.  
If repeated periodically, it basically grants the user immortality as long as the user can find new host bodies. Orochimaru can only perform this technique once about every three years. Orochimaru developed this jutsu, to help him achieve his goal of becoming the ultimate being, through learning all jutsu in the world.

**2) ****Kanashibari no Jutsu- **literally "Temporary Paralysis Technique"  
Type: D-rank, Supplementary, Short to mid-range (0-10m)  
Used to cause one's opponent to lose the advantage of movement. Freezing them in their tracks, this Jutsu creates an opening for a more dangerous attack. Most ANBU seem to know this technique.

* * *

Chapter 2: What is with the cherry blossom?

* * *


	3. What is with the Cherry Blossom?

Chapter 2: What is with the cherry blossom?

* * *

**Summary: **She was admired, she was worshiped; she was praised. She grew in strength and power, she grew distant towards people. Since five, she had trying to save the people around her, but then she just gave up after her closest friend left her. She had never cried since the slaughter of her clan, but she still smiled, but as soon as he left, everything changed, she stopped smiling, she had forgotten how to. She had saved people numerous times in battle with her knowledge and abilities, she brought them back healthy from the missions they came across, it didn't matter, as long as her whole team came back safely, even if she was on the brink of death, she wouldn't allow her self to die pathetically. She had saved everyone, yet she was the one in need of saving; saving from herself and her decaying heart. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.

* * *

_'Thoughts' _

**_'Inner selves' _**

"Talking"

_FLASH BACK… _

P.O.V

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

* * *

**Recap: **

"This is the Hokage's job, why am I doing it?" she muttered, not realizing people were around her.

"Hokage's job?" Naruto questioned.

"Paper work" Sakura muttered.

"What a great job for a jounin" Karin smirked.

"Can I do it?" Naruto questioned.

"It was given to for a reason, Tsunade is too lazy, and she knows I know how to sort this stuff out, after going through it numerous times for her" Sakura muttered "I doubt you would know what do to with it, ja" Sakura waved slightly, walking away.

"Matte, Sakura-chan, can we hang out?" Tenten asked.

"An all girls night?" Ino requested.

"It would fabulous to know how you are doing? Especially for a to be ANBU" Hinata pleaded.

"To be ANBU?" Sakura frowned not understanding.

"Rumours have gone around that you are trying out for the ANBU squad" Neji explained.

"Excuse me for a second" Sakura muttered, storming back into the Hokage's office.

--

"Tsunade, tell me why there are rumours of me going into the ANBU exams going around?" Sakura glared at the woman.

"Not the exams, the village elders have already decided to promote you to ANBU" Tsunade muttered.

"WHAT?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"You heard me, they want you to become an ANBU personnel, preferably the head captain, they reckon you are ready for it" Tsunade explained.

"And if I decline?" Sakura questioned.

"They said you can't" Tsunade explained.

"How annoying, I am so gone" Sakura muttered, walking back out, some how with two bundles of paperwork, courtesy of Tsunade herself.

--

"So, are you going to be an ANBU?" Hinata questioned.

"I don't even get a say in the matter" Sakura muttered.

"Don't most people have to go through exams for to be an ANBU?" Neji questioned.

"Tsunade said something about the village elders wanting me to be the ANBU head captain" Sakura glared to where she presumed the village elders were currently.

"Without even taking the tests?" Kiba exclaimed.

"Don't complain to me, I declined six months ago to be an ANBU" Sakura muttered "Now, I really am going before I get any more paper work, or learn something I really shouldn't"

And with that the Cherry Blossom exploded into thin air, leaving a cloud of smoke, and were those cherry blossoms petals? Oh ironic.

"Since when do people get promoted to ANBU head captain without even taking the exams?" Neji asked, in jealously.

"I have no idea, but the village elders know what they are doing, I hope" Ino sighed.

--

Two days, that's all it took for the girl to go completely insane from the paper work, but none-the-less she finished it straight away, going two days straight, living on coffee, before she discharged Jugo into society, but he had to have an ANBU squad with him at all times. By late night, Sakura wobbled into the Hokage's office, dumped the paper on the desk and wobbled back out of the office, ready for a good nights sleep when team Gai as well as the other rookie nine and Karin and Jugo stood there waiting for something, presumably her.

"No I will not hang out with you now, it's late, and I'm tired, good night" Sakura muttered walking away, suddenly she was lifted into the air by the jounin vest and held there for about a minute.

"Please, I have been doing paper work for two days, heck I even got Jugo released, I have not had an ounce of sleep, let me go home and sleep" Sakura pleaded.

"That's why we are taking you now, you are weak, tired and vulnerable, perfect time to force you to hang out with us" Ino smirked.

"Besides, it's Christmas Eve" Hinata smirked.

"Let me go Sasuke" Sakura glared, a glare that could kill a person so many times the numbers aren't exact, it was a deadly glare, so wanting to save his own butt, Sasuke let go of the girl, trying to ignore Karin snuggling close to him.

"Come on Sakura-chan, its Christmas Eve, a time to spend with friends and family" Tenten begged, holding onto the girl's shoulder.

"Pft. Just leave me alone" Sakura growled as she got out of Tenten's grasp and walked away from them.

--

"Tch, what family?" Sakura muttered from above the tree tops, obviously hiding. She was trying to forget that Christmas was coming, she did her best to ignore the decorations and such that hung endlessly around the villages, as well as in every other village, that's why she requested missions, missions to make her forget that she had no family to spend Christmas with, sure she had friends, but what did they know about her? That she was a jounin? A strong one too? They knew nothing about her in her opinion, but that's because she didn't want anyone to get close to her heart again, last time she did that five years ago they abandoned her, like her family did. She preferred to be alone than be with people who reminded her of how alone she was. She regretted killing those murderers of the clan, they would have killed her, but they didn't because she killed them first. She cursed at her own stupidity, her own pathetic-ness.

Sensing an in coming chakra, the girl honed on it, preparing to vanish into thin air, but was caught before she could. It was unfamiliar, but she knew immediately who it was, it held great hatred for her, and if Sakura didn't know any better, perhaps it might have been jealousy bubbling through that chakra. There was no doubt about it, it was definitely Karin.

"What do you want?" Sakura questioned.

"I'm telling you now, you get in the way of me and Sasuke-sama and I will kill you" Karin threatened. Sakura chuckled.

"Take a ticket and get in line, I have gotten that threat many times before, but it has been a while since I've had that come to me" Sakura sneered

"You little bitch" Karin growled.

"If you want me dead, seriously wait your turn, it's currently at the 25069th Sasuke fangirl who's been sent to kill me, so you would be roughly 3048482872nd on the list, however I advise you do keep your mouth shut, you are still on probation here, if they wanted, they could kill you at any moment, come back to when you actually pose a slight threat" Sakura muttered behind her before disappearing.

"Tch, what could she do?" Karin scoffed before going back to the village.

** End Recap **

* * *

"As I am sure you are aware, but the reformation of team seven has been debated over, and upon a unanimous decision by both the village elders and I, it has been decided that the reformation of team seven will occur. These members include: Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzamaki Naruto, Sai and my own apprentice, Sakura" Tsunade announced to the five ninja who were currently in front of her. 

"Aa"

"…"

"Hn"

"Yosh!"

"So then I am still a member of this team?" Sai questioned.

"You weren't a replacement, you were put on this team for your ability" Tsunade said "Now as your first mission as Team seven; you are to escort a film crew to the Snow Country. This is an A-ranked mission, so take it seriously" Tsunade ordered as she threw the mission scroll to Kakashi.

"…" Sakura was speechless, she hadn't had a team mission in ages, let alone with Team seven, this whole thing seemed to be very foreign to her.

_'Kuso, what were Tsunade and the elders thinking?' _

**_'I have no idea' _**

_'…'_

"You seem awfully quiet Sakura; you have anything you want to say?" Tsunade questioned looking at the girl.

"Hmm? Oh, no, just thinking" Sakura answered "When do we leave?"

"As soon as you meet with the film crew and decide a date for it, you will meet with them tomorrow morning at the production hall" Tsunade answered.

"Hai" Sakura nodded and walked out of the office, bowing first of course.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei, what film crew is it?" Naruto asked. 

"Well, let's go see the movie" Kakashi smiled.

"Hai" Naruto chirped as he followed his former sensei to the movie theater.

* * *

"Ano, what are you guys doing?" Sakura questioned from above, watching the scene below her, which was currently Naruto, Sasuke and Sai beating up random guys on horse back and were about to tie them about. 

"Wasting time" Sasuke answered.

"Ahh" Sakura sighed as she walked over to the men, who were now tied up, and un-tied them.

"Sakura-chan what are you doing?! They are after Princess Fuun!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You mean the woman from the movie you guys watched? You weren't supposed to let her get away! You were supposed to catch her!" Sakura glared "Now we got to go find her again"

"What do you mean again Ugly?" Sai questioned.

"I've been looking every where for her, god damn it!" Sakura cursed as she ran away from the males.

"Sakura-chan is a fan of the actress?" Naruto questioned.

"Are you crazy?" Kakashi questioned as he appeared on the scene.

"Nani?" Sasuke questioned.

"These men are our clients, and our job is to escort them to the Snow Country as well as keep that pesky woman with them" Kakashi sighed.

"Then why did you just tell us?" Sai questioned.

"I forgot" Kakashi sweatdropped as he helped the men up "Gomen"

* * *

"Okay, since most of us are here, I will explain the mission. Our mission is to protect the actress who plays Princess Fuun, Fujikaze Yukie" Kakashi explained. 

"Protect?" Sasuke questioned.

"Well…it's more along the lines of an escort" Kakashi answered.

"This will be the first time the movie "The Unlucky Princess" will be filmed overseas" a film crew explained "Yukie is the most important role too"

"Gomen nasai" a man apologized. He wore a brown jacket and pants outfit with a white dress shirt underneath. He had black glasses covering his eyes and his brown hair was tied into a ponytail at the back. His name was Sandayuu, and he was Yukie's manager or something.

"As one would expect from Konoha ninja, those body guards were hired as stunt men for the movie, but they were easily out thwarted by the ninja" the director chuckled.

"Sugoi!" Naruto exclaimed as he looked at the many pictures on the near by wall "These cliffs are beautiful"

"Those are the Snow Country's rainbow glaciers" a man said.

"You're Kin, the actor who played Brit" Naruto exclaimed.

"This time, the last part of the film will be filmed there" another man said.

"You're Hideo, the guy who played Shishimaru" Naruto exclaimed in delight.

"We sure are going far if we're going to the Snow Country" Sasuke muttered.

"That was the manager, Sandayuu-san's recommendations" the film member explained "It is said in spring that the rainbow glaciers will glow the seven colours"

"However, it is just a myth" Kakashi sighed "In the Snow Country there is no such thing as spring"

"No spring?" Sasuke questioned.

"Does that mean it's always winter?" Sai asked.

"That's what it means" Kakashi answered.

"Kakashi was it?" the director asked "I heard you have been to the Snow Country before"

"It was long ago" Kakashi answered.

"And it's said the Snow Country is a poor nation" another man said.

"You're the henchman, Michi" Naruto admired.

"Didn't the economy collapse because the previous feudal lord was obsessed with his mechanical puppets, and they went bankrupt because of it?" Michi asked.

"I don't care as long as they have a heater, I'm not fond of the cold" Kin said.

"So you want to run away like Yukie?" Hideo questioned.

"Give me a break" the film guy cried.

"Is Yukie-chan always like that?" Naruto questioned.

"Yea" Michi answered.

"She doesn't know the meaning of words like motivation or ambition and is really quite helpless" Kin said.

"However, she doesn't slack off when it comes to work, she was born to be an actress, I don't care about her personal life as long as her performance on camera is good, I'm not going to complain" the director claimed.

"However if you think about it, she only started running away when she learned about the snow country" Kin examined.

* * *

"So you're here?" Sakura muttered as she walked into the bar towards Yukie, who was currently drunk and mumbling something about not going to the Snow Country. Slowly and drunkenly, a man wobbled passed the girl, hitting her in the shoulder as he walked out of the bar and onto the streets. 

"Oi, Yukie-san right? Come on, let's get out of here" Sakura said as she waked over to the drunken actress.

"Why would I be listening to a girl half my size?" Yukie scoffed.

"Come on, I haven't got all day you stupid woman, man actresses these days" Sakura muttered.

"That's a laugh" Yukie chuckled "You seem like a smart girl, you should know that acting is a terrible job filled with the worst people. You have to follow scripts and people's order, it's all lies" Yukie explained drunkenly.

"Oh would you shut up" Sakura muttered "Stupid drunken woman"

"Shut up and get lost!" Yukie growled.

"Damn you are so annoying" Sakura muttered as she hit the woman on the back of her neck, knocking her out.

Suddenly Sandayuu, Sasuke, Naruto and Sai came running into the bar to find a knocked out Yukie on the pink haired girl's back.

"Yukie-sama!" Sandayuu exclaimed.

"She's fine" Sakura muttered.

"What are you doing here Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Getting this annoying woman" Sakura answered.

"Come on, the ship's going to depart soon" Sasuke said as he took the knocked out woman from the girl.

"You serious?" Sakura exclaimed.

"Hai" Sai answered.

"Shit, trouble some woman!" Sakura glared at the knocked out woman "I'll meet you guys at the peer, I have got to get my bags" Sakura said running out of the bar.

* * *

"What the hell is this?!" Yukie exclaimed as she ran out of a door to reveal she was on a ship.

* * *

"I don't like that woman" Naruto muttered. 

"Complain when some one cares" Sakura sighed as she looked towards the horizon, leaning on the ship's walls.

"What are you saying Naruto? We have to protect her no matter what, this is an important mission" Kakashi explained.

" Mission?" Naruto questioned.

"Get up to date baka" Sai sighed.

"Tsunade already told you, this is an A-ranked mission" Sakura sighed, unconsciously her hands drummed along the rail post, no one noticing that as her fingers fell and rose so did the water.

"I don't think it'll be that hard to protect a single actress" Sasuke muttered.

"Not true Sasuke, because she is famous she will most likely be targeted, and we don't know who any of the enemies are so don't let your guard down" Kakashi explained.

Slowly the lights and cameras for the film were set up and they began to film whatever they wanted.

"Alright, since everything is ready, let's being people!" the director shouted.

"Hai! Scene 23, cut 6, take 1" the film guy shouted "Action!" he snapped the wood together indicating the movie had begun.

* * *

"I don't believe how crap of an actor she is" Naruto exclaimed after they had just watched her performance, at about half way through, when they thought she was going to cry, she stops the film crew to get Sandayuu to put eye drops into her eyes. 

"Not everyone can just cry you know Naruto" Sakura muttered, the drumming of her fingers seemed to get harder and harder, still looking out at the horizon, which the sun was now falling to.

"Nani?" Naruto questioned as he turned to face the girl, who looked utterly bored.

"Not everyone likes to display emotion for the sake of it" Sakura answered as she turned around watching the film crew pack up their gear, crossing her arms, her fingers continued to drum across her skin, and without knowing it, the water continued the same motion, only now it was higher, yet still no one had yet to notice.

* * *

"D-d-d-director!" the film guy cried "We are in trouble!" 

Currently they were in snow country water yes, however, it wasn't the exact place that they wanted, simply put; it was a mountain in the middle of the ocean.

"This is" the director muttered.

"When I woke up this morning our route was blocked. What should we do?" the film guy explained hastily.

"Here we go!" the director shouted "This is perfect! We are filming here!"

"Eh?" the film man exclaimed.

"Can't you see, this is a perfect place to film! Everyone on land!" the director ordered.

* * *

"Okay everyone standby we are going to begin filming, scene 36 cut 22! Action!" the film guy shouted **(A/N: let's call him Kenji since I don't know what his name is, and the name 'film guy' is pretty pathetic n.n'')**

"Hahahah! You have come all the way here?" an old man chuckled as he glared down at Yukie and her companions.

"You're Mao!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Stay back Princess!" Michi ordered.

"We have got it under control!" Kin insisted.

"That's what you think" Mao sneered as he pointed at the three, as his hands moved, something exploded behind him on the cliff face "What was that?" Mao questioned.

Instantly, Team seven formed around the film crew, prepared for the worst, of course wearing something more appropriate for the cold snow, if you ignored Sakura who was wearing her normal outfit with no changes to it, aside the black ear muffs.

"Everyone get back!" Kakashi ordered watching the smoke clear above on the cliff face.

"Welcome to the Snow country" a man sneered. He had light purple hair and an evil look in his eyes.

"You're…" Kakashi muttered as he turned his attention to the side.

"I welcome you Princess Koyuki" a woman smirked, she had pink hair, but it was darker than Sakura's and more to the purple kind of colour.

"You're Princess Koyuki?" Kakashi gasped

"I presume you have bought the hexagonal crystal?" a man grinned evilly.

"As expected of Hatake Kakashi" a large man chuckled as he rose from the snow.

"I can't get any closer to you than here" another man smirked as he appeared opposite the large man.

"We'll just have to get what we want by force then" another male smirked who was a little in front of the first man.

"Damn, what odds" Sakura cursed.

"Sasuke, Sai, Sakura, Naruto, protect Yukie-san, everyone else go back to the ship" Kakashi ordered before going towards the purple hair man

"Fubuki, Mizore, get Koyuki, Aoi, Kyou, stop the others from protecting Koyuki" the purple haired guy ordered before he launched towards Kakashi who was already after him.

"Hai!" Fubuki nodded as she jumped down towards Yukie.

"It's been a while Kakashi, you aren't going to run away like you did last time?" the purple haired man sneered.

"Rouga Nadare" Kakashi glared before began fighting with various jutsus, weapons and taijutsu.

"I don't know what's going on, but it feels like the movies" Naruto smirked "Princess Fuun I will protect you!" Naruto proclaimed as he began to face the large man, Mizore who was snow boarding around Naruto and was being attacked by Sasuke's kunai and Fuuma shuriken, which failed to land a decent hit.

"Hyouton Tsubame Fubuki **(1)**" Fubuki smirked as ice birds came soaring towards Sasuke.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu **(2)**" Sasuke shouted, performing the hand seals for the fire attack.

"Everyone get back to the ship!" Sai ordered; making sure everyone ran towards the ship. The only one who remained was Yukie, who was standing there in shock.

"Damn it" Sakura cursed as she watched as an ice jutsu performed by the snow shinobi "Get back to the ship Yukie-san!" Sakura glared as she kicked the woman back to Sandayuu who was running to get her, getting hit with the ice jutsu in the process.

"Damn that woman" Sakura cursed as she stood up and kicked the ice off her.

"Ugly, daijobou?" Sai questioned as he blocked Kyou's attack.

"Hai" Sakura muttered coming back to back with Sai and fending off Aoi "You take the ugly one" Sakura smirked and performed a water jutsu "Suiton: **Suiryudan no Jutsu (3)**" Sakura shouted as a water dragon appeared from the sea and almost hit the man, had he not continually dodged the water dragon.

"You're a little slow there, girly" Aoi smirked as he kicked her in the chest "You have to be a little quicker if you want keep up with me in my territory"

"Suiton:Daibakufu no Jutsu **(4)**" Sakura glared as the water came from out of the ocean, and hit him on his side.

"Water jutsus don't work here well" Aoi smirked "Or maybe it's just you"

_'Damn, he's fast'_ Sakura glared _'I need something to keep him still and immobilize him'_ Sakura analyzed as she tried to think of a way to stop the man for at least a second, to get a good hit in while fighting him off in a taijutsu battle; which was growing increasingly closer to Yukie.

"It seems you are slightly good in taijutsu, but you are no match for mine" Aoi smirked, kicking the girl away.

_'I can't use pure chakra strength because it'll cause an avalanche here, and my medical jutsus wouldn't even be of any use right now'_ Sakura cursed, growling as she stood up and faced the guy.

"You are really starting to piss the shit out of me" Sakura glared. Without knowing what she was doing she performed another 'Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu' and aimed the rushing water at the man, which she thought was going to hit, but missed, angry that it missed she pumped chakra through her arms and began controlling the water to follow the man, which eventually caught him and froze him in place.

_'That'll do'_ Sakura smirked as she aimed at the man, pointing towards him, when a strike of lighting hit the man from the cloudless sky above, as if she was controlling the electrical current through her arm.

_'W-what on earth just happened'_ Sakura exclaimed she saw the man caught in the wall of ice, shot by a bolt of electricity, her arms feeling tremendous energy and power surging through them that they twitched in pain.

SASUKE'S POV

Slowly the ice formations followed me, until I melted them down with my Katon jutsu. Suddenly another lot of ice glaciers came after me; which was easily dodged, except for one lot which caught my foot and before I knew it, I was captured in the ice block. Smirking to myself, my form rolled into a ball as I disappeared, in my trail an explosive tag, and I reappeared sending another Katon jutsu towards where, which she easily dodged by flying with her mechanical wings.

"You are really starting to piss the shit out of me" Sakura glared, catching my attention to find her performing another one of them water jutsus.

What in the world happened there? I saw Sakura with her water jutsu, it shouldn't have hit, and it should have missed and hit Kakashi and that purple haired guy, but instead the water followed the guy around, and it looked like Sakura was directing it. Since when could she do that? In an instant she had caught the guy as the water tightened around his form and froze into ice. That was definitely not possible. I'm going to have to get Sakura to teach me how to do that. Then out of no where, a lightning bolt, came down and hit the guy, and again it looked like she was controlling it, far be it from me, but it looks like she really has improved since we last battled. As it looked like she cursed herself, the guy who Naruto was versing kicked him away and his arm shot out to grab the now very scared actress. With no choice, in her mind I assume, Sakura went forward and punched the hand away from the woman and glared at her.

"You stupid woman! Get out of the fucking way and back onto the ship!" Sakura growled "You are making this much more difficult that it has to be" Sakura shouted as she fought against the fat guy.

Turning my attention back to the woman I was facing, she had once again prepared another ice jutsu, and so I combated it with my fire jutsu which easily defeated the woman, who was left in a little shock, so I took the opportunity to make another Katon jutsu and hit her. Behind me, Naruto and Sai were using various taijutsu to stop the guys from getting our charge and Kakashi had now equipped him self with a new jutsu that created an ice whale with a horn. In front of me, it seemed Sakura was once again using a water jutsu.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu" Sakura shouted.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu" I shouted with her, aiming my attack at the still shock stricken woman.

END POV

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu" Sakura shouted.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu" Sasuke shouted.

_'Damn this water jutsu won't be enough to stop this guy, I need something like lightning or fire in this attack too'_ Sakura cursed. Suddenly, without expecting it, Sasuke's attack changed course at the last minute when it was going to hit the woman and combined into Sakura's water jutsu while a lightning bolt merged into the jutsu from above. Not knowing what was happening, Sakura just continued the jutsu, preparing to miss the guy the jutsu was meant for; suddenly each of the five ice shinobi that they were against were stuck in place as water from Kakashi's jutsu changed course and wrapped around before freezing, keeping the enemy shinobi in place. Shocked that things were going in her favour, Sakura continued to control the jutsu, and without realizing it, split the dragon into five, hitting each frozen enemy.

_'What the hell is happening?'_ Sakura gasped in pain as her arms were filled with immense chakra and power, begging to be released. Overcome by the pain, Sakura's body fell to the ground, as she struggled to remain conscious.

SASUKE'S POV

She just swiped my jutsu! I don't believe it! She just swiped my jutsu and used Kakashi's jutsu to keep them in place! If she wanted fire she could have just said so! She's being a total show off now, the ice froze each enemy in place and then the water, fire and thunder dragon hit each one with pin point accuracy! What a show off! Damn, I should have had my sharingan on to figure out that jutsu! Kuso!

END POV

_'What the hell is this pain?'_ Sakura exclaimed. _'Are you behind this?'_

_**'For once, it's not my fault, I swear'** _

_'Then what the hell is with this pain in my ARMS?!' _

**_'I wouldn't have a clue; you didn't tap into my chakra. I knew you were training, but I have never in all my time being in you, seen you do that! Heck I know that what ever you did was not my doing'_**

_'That's because I've never done that before!' _

_**'You serious!'** _

_'Itai! It hurts!'_

"Sakura-chan, you were amazing!" Naruto exclaimed, neglecting to notice that the girl was on her hands and knees in extreme pain.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Kakashi asked concerned.

"Itai!" Sakura exclaimed, suddenly balls of snow began rising around the girl, hitting the enemies each square in the head.

"You know, Sakura, if already finished them off, that snow ball wasn't needed" Sasuke muttered, leaning down to the girl.

"Sakura-chan" Naruto began to shake the girl.

"Oi Ugly-" Slowly the girl got up, gasping for air, and in immense pain.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Kakashi asked again.

"I-" Sakura muttered before she fell on her back, into Sasuke's chest** (A/N: which by the way is probably rock hard and oh so smexy! –fangirlish squeals-)**

_'What's wrong with her?'_ the males of team seven wondered as they took the unconscious girl back to the ship.

* * *

"The hexagonal crystal" Kakashi muttered "It has been 15 years since"

* * *

"Sandayuu-san, you knew about this right?" Kakashi questioned. 

"Hai" Sandayuu answered.

"Then you must have known that she would react like this" Kakashi said.

"This was the only way to bring the Princess back" Sandayuu explained.

"Hehe, Sandayuu-san, Princess Fuun is only a princess in the movie" Naruto chuckled who was sitting next to an unconscious Sakura, who was unconsciously leaning on Sasuke, who was leaning on the wall next to Sai who was opposite Kakashi.

"She is a real princess" Kakashi said.

"Eh?" Naruto questioned.

"Fujikaze Yukie is a fake name, her real name is Kazahana Koyuki, the hair to the Snow Country's throne" Kakashi explained.

"Eh?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Sandayuu-san, you knew Koyuki from a young age?" Sai questioned.

"Hai, I knew her from when she was very young, I was one of her father's subordinates, the previous ruler of this land" Sandayuu answered.

"Itai!" Sakura cursed unconsciously, drawing attention to her.

"Sasuke, take her to the beds please, I think it'd be better if she rest lying down on a bed, stay with her will you" Kakashi ordered.

"Aa" Sasuke muttered as he stood up and carried the girl out of the room bridal style.

"I found her on stage one day, and I was overjoyed that she had survived" Sandayuu cried.

"It would have been better if I had died that day" Koyuki spoke from the door way.

"Please, don't say that Princess, because you are alive, we still have hope! You can out thwart Dotou and bring peace back to the Snow Country" Sandayuu pleaded.

"Even if I am alive, my heart is dead, ever since that incident, my tears have dried up" Koyuki said.

"After that incident, I some how managed to be Koyuki-sama's manager and I waited until U finally had the chance to bring Koyuki-sama back to the Snow Country" Sandayuu explained.

"Does that mean you were using us the whole time?" Kenji exclaimed.

"Gomen nasai! I am sorry I fooled you all but I needed to bring Koyuki back" Sandayuu explained as he rose from his seat and bowed in front of Koyuki "Please Koyuki-sama, fight with us so we can take over Dotou and get the Snow Country back! You must over throw him and become our queen; I will protect you with my life, so please…" Sandayuu begged.

"No"

"What? Please Koyuki-sama" Sandayuu begged.

"Don't joke with me" Koyuki glared.

"But the people of the Snow Country" Sandayuu stuttered.

"It's none of my business, I refuse" Koyuki stated turning her head away in disgust.

"But Koyuki-sama…" Sandayuu muttered.

"Give it up already! Are you stupid? No matter how hard you try, you can over power Dotou; I faced that a long time ago" Koyuki glared.

"Don't say 'give up' so easily!" Naruto growled "Sandayuu-oji-san is risking his life to make this dream true! If you make fun of him I won't ever forgive you!"

"Naruto" Sandayuu smiled slightly.

"Because you wouldn't give up, you can see your dream. Because you are able to see your dream, you have a future. This is nice. This is the perfect theme for the final chapter of The Unlucky Princess" the director smirked.

"Director, you intend on continuing this film?" Kenji questioned.

"Do you realize the chances of working with a real Princess and filming it? It's perfect!" the director exclaimed.

"I see it will be a big success!" Kenji exclaimed.

"Chotto Matte" Koyuki exclaimed.

"It looks like we only have on option, how unfortunate" Kakashi sighed "Dotou knows you're alive now, so you can't hide any where. To fight is your only way to live"

"Okay! Looks like the mission will continue!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Stop fooling around! Reality is different from the movies. There is no such thing as a happy ending in this world!"

"If you put effort into it, you will pull through!" The director hollered.

"But we should really go back to Konoha and get some reinforcements" Kakashi sighed.

"Is it me or have you forgotten what team you have here?" Sai questioned "Each of your students has been trained by one of the legendary Sannin, Sakura having passed the Godaime in strength, medical jutsu and ability, and I'm sure the other two are on their way"

"We will be fine" Naruto reassured.

"You all…" Sandayuu admired.

"Then it's decided we shall continue!" the director announced.

_DREAM SEQUENCE… _

_It was early one morning, and like always the youngest Haruno of the family was admiring the sights of nature that surrounded her in the family's garden. She had always loved the morning, it was the best time in the day, it was never too cold, never too hot, the sun would always be out and wild life, whether it be bugs, lizards or birds, were awake and greeting the new day with their existence. She was three, and had no care in the world; the family's gardens could do that to a person. There was a magnificent range of various plants from tall birch trees to the weeping willows, there were roses and tulips, there was a bridge over a giant pond, and fields of flowers and grass; just like in her dream. It was always so peaceful. Slowly an old man came out and greeted his grand daughter. _

_"Good Morning Sakura-chan" the old man smiled. _

_"Ohayou Oji-sama" Sakura bowed politely. _

_"Come on, Sakura-chan, I want to show you something" an old man smiled as he walked up to his youngest grandchild. _

_"Oji-sama? Nani?" Sakura questioned as she took the man's hand and followed him around the garden to the bridge, and over looked the pond. _

_"Watch the water my dear Sakura-chan" the man smiled. _

_"Hai" Sakura nodded as she watched the water from the railing; looking closely, she could see the water bubbling up and down, but she knew that there was nothing in the water to make it do that. Slowly the water rose and fell like a fountain, except, there wasn't any fountain type thing in the water, it made the girl stare at it quizzically. Soon the water rose into a small ball and began floating in mid air around her and her grandfather. _

_"Nani? Oji-sama what's with the water?" Sakura frowned, obviously confused. _

_"That us this clans' special ability, our Kekkei Genkai if you will" the old man lifted the girl up to sit on the railing. _

_"Nani? Blood line trait? Can I try?" Sakura asked as he eyes focused on the water. _

_"Not until you're older" the man shook his head. _

_"Why?" Sakura frowned. _

_"Each family member has their own ability in a way, yours should come to you when you're older" her grand father explained. _

_"What's it called?" Sakura asked. _

_"That will be for when you're older, I promise I will tell you" the old man said. _

_"Aww…no fair" Sakura pouted "What about Daiki nii-sama and Hikari-nii-sama? Do they have it?" _

_"They're getting there" the old man said. _

_"Hmph! I can never do anything when I'm young" Sakura muttered. _

_"It's okay Sakura-chan, you will learn how to do it soon, enjoy your youth while you have it" her grandfather chuckled as he watched the sun rise with his grand daughter. _

_…END DREAM SEQUENCE _

Slowly the cherry blossom's eyes fluttered open as she woke up from her slumber. Looking around on her back, Sakura realized she was some where inside, and it was some what dark. Sitting up, the girl cradled her forehead in her palm, feeling something in between the two pieces of skin. A little face towel. _'I had a fever?'_ Sakura examined as she peeled the towel off her head and felt her forehead. What ever her temperature was before, it had gone down and was back to normal again; that battle with the snow shinobi must have done something to her.

"Tch, they never told me what it was" Sakura muttered darkly, not noticing that people were in the room with her.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned.

"Who never told you what it was?" Sasuke questioned.

"What was it?" Sai questioned.

"Nani?" Sakura muttered, her hand still cradling her forehead.

"Sakura-chan what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Where am I?" Sakura asked.

"You're on the way to the Snow Country, we are traveling by buses now" Kakashi answered.

"I see" Sakura muttered.

"Sakura, what was with your jutsu when we fought those Snow shinobi?" Sasuke questioned.

"What do you mean?" Sakura answered.

"When you created one of your jutsu, the first water jutsu, it should have missed and hit me, but it didn't and followed the guy you were versing" Kakashi explained.

"And the water froze into ice when it caught the guys" Sai added.

"And you took my jutsu and added it to your water dragon jutsu, and you took Kakashi's jutsu to freeze them, and the lightning came out of no where, what was up with all that?" Sasuke interrogated.

"I have no idea" Sakura muttered as she looked at her twitching hands.

"You have to have some idea of what it was or you wouldn't have been able to do it Sakura-chan" Naruto frowned.

"I'm serious, I have no idea who I did" Sakura said.

"How can you not know what you did?" Sai scoffed.

"I don't know" Sakura frowned.

"It was _your_ jutsu how can you not know when it looked like you knew what you were doing?" Sasuke scowled.

"Because I don't!" Sakura glared.

"Sakura, seriously just tell us how you did it" Kakashi sighed.

"For the love of Kami-sama! I told you already! I have no idea how or why I took you jutsus, heck, I didn't even realize I did it until the fire was added to the dragon and the other water dragon appeared out of no where! If you don't believe me; that's your own decision" Sakura growled before she stood up and walked away from the males, and bare footed. The sound of a door slamming erupted, and their guess was that Sakura had jumped out of the moving vehicle to be alone.

"Maybe she really doesn't know" Naruto pondered.

"How can she not know if she did the jutsu?" Sasuke scoffed.

"It doesn't matter right now, Ugly just went out of the bus with no shoes on, we had better find her and bring her back before something worse happens and our medic is out cold" Sai sighed.

* * *

"What's happening to me?" Sakura muttered as she stared at her hands. 

**_'Far be it from me, but maybe you should return now' _**

_'This is exactly why I hate team missions' _

**_'Whether you like it or not, they care for you and you have to go back' _**

_'Tch, what have they ever done for me, I lived just fine without any one in my life' _

**_'That's not what you would have said when you were four' _**

_'Pft. Times change and so do people' _

**_'But you didn't have to' _**

_'And do what? Try and live my life while people tried to hurt me? Think again' _

**_'You could have at least opened your heart a little to the idea of being on a team' _**

_'I did, five years ago, and where did that get me? I had a sensei who didn't teach me shit, a guy who went to find power with a snake pedophile and another who went off for power with a perverted hermit' _

**_'Just try this time' _**

_'Just leave me alone, I don't need to deal with you' _

**_'Don't worry, you and I had a deal, I'll be out of you soon enough and you want have to deal with me ever again' _**

_'Whatever' _

"Sakura" Sasuke called from below. It was obvious he was searching for the girl. Looking down, she could tell that he was only looking on the ground level and not any higher.

"Pft. And this is the guy who went for power from the snake" Sakura scoffed quietly; which ironically caught the attention of him and was now running up the trees to bring her back.

"Come on, let's go back" Sasuke ordered.

"Not if I'm just going to be patronized again" Sakura scoffed, glaring at the snow in front of her which started to melt under her heated gaze.

"See, you're doing it again" Sasuke scoffed as he looked at the melting snow.

"Doing what again?" Sakura questioned.

"Never mind, let's just go ok" Sasuke sighed "Hop onto my back"

"I can walk myself" Sakura scoffed, jumping off the tree branch.

"Not with bare feet" Sasuke jeered.

"I got here fine on my own; I'll get back fine on my own" Sakura glared walking away from the boy.

_'How annoying'_ Sasuke glared at the girl before sighing and picking her up like he would a child and shuffled her onto his back; carrying her piggy back styled.

"Let me go" Sakura muttered as she struggled to get off his back.

"Hold still would you" Sasuke glared at the girl on his back, trying to ignore the fact that her body fit perfectly onto his, and that her…err…flesh…was very soft and peeked well…in the upper region, not to mention how soft her legs felt in his hands, and how weird it felt having her arms on his shoulders in that manner, but it also felt…good. Holding back the blush, Sasuke raced towards the buses and let the girl back on her feet once they were at the bus where they would be sleeping; Sai and Naruto inside, slightly concerned, but shook it off when she walked into the room, mumbled something incoherent and jumped onto the bed, not bothering to cover herself with any blankets. Either it was that time of the month again, or she was really pissed that her team mates (who she had not really seen often) accused her of lying, or a mixture of both, and if it was that then they didn't want to be any where near in for the next few hours, or days.

* * *

"After the cave, there is a village close to it, we will stop there and make a formal visit after we finish filming" Sandayuu explained to Kakashi.

* * *

"I can't see the exit of this place" Naruto frowned as he looked out of the window of the bus. 

_'Damn…I need to train soon and let off all this energy or I'm going to blow!'_ Sakura exclaimed, her hands twitching in irritation, which was noticed by Sasuke.

_'What's up with her?'_ Sasuke looked at the girl who looked like she really was going to explode at any minute.

"Long ago this place used to be a railway" Sandayuu explained.

"Railway?" Sai questioned.

"The place is covered by ice, but the tracks are still there" Sandayuu explained.

"I see" Naruto nodded.

Slowly, as time passed, the film crew buses had made it out of the cave and had stopped just outside of it.

"Alright! Let's begin filming!" the director announced.

"D-director, big problem, Koyuki-san has just run away!" Kenji exclaimed running out of the bus he was in.

* * *

_'Don't joke around with me!'_ Koyuki exclaimed running through the snow covered forest.

* * *

"We'll split up from here, if you find her contact by radio!" Kakashi ordered. 

"Hai" Naruto shouted as the Konoha ninjas split up in search of this actress.

* * *

_'I wonder…would it be wrong to stop looking for the Princess and train?' _

**_'Don't even think about it' _**

_'Pft, what could a little training possibly do?' _

**_'For one it tires you out much faster, second you really should find this girl' _**

_'Fun spoiler' _

"Where are you, you stupid woman?" Sakura glared, not realizing that the snow parted for her, making it easier for her to walk, and oddly, the route she picked had little trees in her way, even though she had picked to go through the forest.

"Why are we babysitting this spoiled brat anyway?" Sakura muttered; snow behind her flaring up and exploding occasionally, but Sakura seemed oblivious to it. Sighing, figuring that the boys had better luck, Sakura ran through the forest once more and back to where the buses and film crew should have been. Glaring down at the snow ground, the noise of a train moving on tracks echoed through the forest reaching her ears.

"Train?" Sakura muttered, jumping to the highest branch of a near by tree to see what the sound was. Looking over to where the sound was coming from, Sakura's eyes widened incredibly at the sight she saw, a big brown train was chugging its way along the tracks that were there at incredible speeds.

_'I thought that old man said the tracks were frozen over by ice'_ Sakura examined _'That means that some one has pumped chakra through it to make the ice melt to use the trains'_ Sakura glared at the train that was entering the cave before jumping from tree to tree, trying to get to where the film crew was.

* * *

"It's been a while Koyuki" a man chuckled from a loud speaker on the train. 

"Kazahana Dotou" Koyuki muttered, taking slow breathes.

"Now, let me see your face" Dotou ordered as he stared at his niece, when naruto stood in front of her, blocking Dotou's view.

Suddenly loads of logs came surfing down the hill face and rammed themselves into the train, attracting the attention of Dotou and his ninja subordinates, to find that there was a raging amount of villagers from one of the villages near by, armed with pitch forks and weapons of various kinds.

"Everyone! Princess Koyuki is watching! That guarantees our victory!" Sandayuu claimed, the villagers cheering in agreement.

"Kazahana Dotou! Do you know how long we have waited for this day? I am Asabasan Sandayuu, a representative of the 50th brigade. Now we will avenge the death of Kazahana Sousetsu-sama from 15 years ago and we will take it out on you!" Sandayuu declared, the people behind him cheering in unison.

"There are still people like that around?" Dotou chuckled evilly.

"My apologies, I will deal with them immediately" Nadare bowed as he got out his weapon.

"No, don't bother, they need to experience something absolutely hopeless" Dotou smirked as the raging warriors charged down hill arm with their weapons. Suddenly, as the men charged down ready to attack, the train doors slid open to reveal them filled with individual cells. As they charging men got closer the cells began shooting kunai straight towards then, killing each and every one in its rain of fire.

SAKURA'S POV

_'Damn I'm too late'_ I cursed as I watched the train stop in front of where the crew members were supposed to be, but instead of them being there, all that were left were Naruto and that actress, damn I swear she probably isn't all the trouble she's worth. Slowly this man, really ugly with black long hair and in the weirdest outfit ever spoke through a microphone, but I couldn't exactly hear what was going on since I was still a far distance from them. Then the next thing I know, these random people in battle uniforms and covered in armour appear and charge towards the brown train where Dotou was, using some of the weirdest and most unconventional weapons I have ever seen in my life, I mean seriously? Pitch forks? I understand the swords and all but pitch forks?

Damn those stupid people, you don't go charging towards an enemy like that, have some plan behind it. Without any choice I pumped chakra into my feet and raced my way over the tree tops, arriving to find people being killed by dozens and dozens of kunai which had been shot out of the train carriages; add that mass murder to the list of the ones I have seen, it seems these sort of things don't affect me any more. Some would call it heartless, I call it a way of the ninja.

My eyes raced over the dead bodies, looking for any signs that any of them survived that onslaught of seemingly endless kunai. Suddenly a mad and evil laugh erupted and echoed through the battle scene. It was that real ugly one, and that purple haired guy was with him to, damn them! I should have just killed them when I had the chance. One man was still standing, that man…what was his name again? Sandayuu? He was limping across the battle field, obviously wounded with the dozen or so kunai in him already. People just don't know when to give up these days. Suddenly another ambush of kunai knives flew out of one of the train carriages, right towards the man. Cursing to my self for still being so far away, I wait in anticipation as I prepared for the guy to be hit, not expecting a Fuuma Shuriken to appear before the man, blocking some of the kunai but still fell down in pain and exhaustion and most likely blood loss.

Fuuma Shuriken? What idiot would bring that along? Oh right…Sasuke…he has this thing about those weapons. Focusing my attention on the battle field, I swear I could have seen a chicken's butt from under a snow mound as a kunai attached with an explosive tag flew from the mound and hit the train, blowing up immediately on contact. Looking up for a moment, I swear I could have seen black in the mountain top above, as a small object fell creating a small explosion as well as an avalanche, which ran over the train which had begun to move again, and over the bridge which had just exploded as it passed.

Immediately, heads started popping up all over the places, as Sasuke, Sai and Kakashi came from where ever they were and watched the train leave. Sasuke and Sai practically begging to go and beat the shit out of them, but were stopped by Kakashi.

END POV

"So cruel" Naruto muttered as he gazed at the scene before him. Sitting on the ground next to him was a bored looking Sakura who looked like she had seen it all before while Sai, Sasuke and Kakashi were leaning over something as they pulled Sandayuu onto a board and walked over to where Sakura and Naruto were standing.

"That's what they get for being so persistent" Koyuki muttered "If they hadn't gone up against Dotou this would have never happened to them in the first place"

_'In a way, agree with the woman, even though I hate her guts'_ Sakura glanced over to the actress; noting that Sasuke, Sai and Kakashi had brought over the almost dead body of Sandayuu.

"Can you heal him Sakura?" Kakashi asked watching the girl bend on her knees and examine the man's body.

"I'd only be prolonging an inventible death" Sakura answered.

"But that's what you do anyway don't you?" Sasuke questioned.

"I help people fix injuries correct, and yes, if I wanted to I would help him-"

"Then why don't you?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"My chakra was has been too all over the place, you have no idea how much struggle it was for me to get here" Sakura muttered, pointing to the forest she came from, which had distinct patches where trees were growing "It'd be dangerous if I tried healing him now, but if you really want me to, I could try"

"Please-"

Slowly, Sandayuu opened his eyes, coughing up blood "Don't worry about me, I predicted this would happen anyway, Koyuki-sama" Sandayuu called as the called woman walked over to him and bent down to his level "I am very sorry to get you involved in this. I and everyone else, because you were around, we didn't lose hope. Ever since you were young, and even now, you are still our princess. That I believe you are. Please, believe in yourself, you are our hope. Please…don't…cry" Sandayuu coughed up more blood before his spirit and soul left the world for good.

"You really are a baka aren't you, Sandayuu? I can't cry because you have the eye drops" Koyuki muttered, picking up the dropped weapon "You should be satisfied. Let's go home now. If we stay here any longer we won't return safely, let's go" Koyuki announced.

"What are you going to head back to? Your home country is here right?" Naruto growled "If you really want to go back, defeat Dotou and you can go back"

"You don't know anything; there is no spring in this country. It's a place where your tears freeze and your heart turns to stone" Koyuki glared.

"That may be so, but then why haven't your tears defrosted after going to the _Fire_ Country?" Sakura questioned "No matter where you are, your tears can freeze" Sakura scoffed.

"Stop talking nonsense" Koyuki scoffed.

"Oi, get back here!" Naruto shouted racing after the woman and grabbing her wrist.

"Leave me alone" Koyuki growled as she pulled her wrist away from the boy. Suddenly a blimp rose from below the bottom of the cliff, in the door of the blimp compartment, was the fat man with what looked like a gun in his hands. Suddenly his hand, or whatever it was, came down with an aim to get a hold of Koyuki. Without even realizing it, both Koyuki and Sakura were grabbed by the metal hand before being pulled up into the sky and towards the big blimp. As the two girls rose in the air, the snow kunoichi flew passed them, dropping kunai onto the people below. Cursing, Kakashi, Sai and Sasuke dodged away easily as Naruto leaped onto the blimp string. As the kunai hit the ground ice spears grew from them that looked remarkably like trees hitting the caravans and buses that the film crew had been traveling in.

"Sai, where's Naruto?" Sasuke questioned.

"I have no idea where Dickless is, but where is Ugly?" Sai questioned.

"She got captured by that hand with Koyuki, as for Naruto…" Kakashi ended it there, knowing very well that the blonde ninja was finding a way to get on the blimp at that very moment.

* * *

"Let me go!" Sakura growled, her hands bound behind her back by string and held in place by the snow kunoichi. 

"Feisty little girl aren't you?" Fubuki questioned.

"If you ask me she's quiet the cutey" Nadare purred holding her chin close to his face.

"You have turned to be quite beautiful Koyuki" Dotou smirked "Do you have the hexagonal crystal?"

"Hexagonal crystal?" Sakura muttered, watching the scene before her, noticing that the guy had taken the kuniochi's place.

"Yes" Koyuki answered.

"Good, because that's the only thing that connects this family together and it's also the key to the treasure" Dotou smirked.

"Treasure?" Sakura muttered "You are causing so much fuss over something that you could buy in a cheap jewellry store?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Shut up girl" Nadare glared, holding a kunai to her neck.

"The key to the treasure?" Koyuki questioned.

"When I took over here from your father, there was nothing left in the Kazahana family. My brother must have kept it else where, so I looked and I found it. It's a massive weapon hidden in the Rainbow Glaciers, and the key to getting the weapon is that hexagonal crystal" Dotou exclaimed.

"There we go, now that sounds more evil" Sakura muttered.

"Would you just shut up?!" Nadare cursed, holding the kunai even closer to her neck.

"You think that scares me?" Sakura scoffed.

"If I can get control of that weapon, we can over power the other nations" Dotou smirked.

"I will never let that happen" Naruto's voice echoed through the hallways of the blimp, behind the captured Sakura and captor Nadare. Suddenly the blonde was captured by string and knocked down to the ground by the fat guy from earlier. _'Always has to make an entrance'_ Sakura twitched in irritation.

"My deepest apologies Dotou-sama" he bowed "This kid was quite troublesome"

"He can use Kage Bunshin in masses?" Dotou exclaimed.

"I don't understand it but this kid has massive amounts of chakra" Aoi explained.

"Just in case should we attach the device?" Kyou asked _'The genius of masking my chakra'_ Sakura smirked.

"Yes, would be interesting Guinea pig" Dotou nodded. Suddenly a little hatch opened revealing a small palm sized object which Mizore grabbed, messing around with the mechanical device before shoving on to Naruto's stomach exploding into massive amounts of energy as the clones disappeared into smoke.

"Naruto" Sakura gasped "What the hell was that?!" Sakura exclaimed struggling to break free of her binds.

"A chakra control device" Dotou answered "It suck out the chakra of an enemy and creates an impenetrable barrier around him. He won't be able to destroy nor pull it off"

_'Kuso, he already has enough trouble controlling his chakra, he doesn't need that on him'_ Sakura cursed.

**_'Calm down, you don't want to give away your chakra and have that on you!' _**

_'I know, I know'_

"My power…is…fading" Naruto muttered.

"Let me go!" Sakura exclaimed, trying really hard to go and help Naruto.

"Don't even bother my little blossom, those ropes around your wrists are chakra ropes, you had little chakra to begin with, so you won't be going any where any time soon" Nadare smirked as he carried the girl away from the sight and into a cell.

"Kuso!" Naruto cursed before he fell unconscious.

"The hexagonal crystal, will you hand it over?" Dotou asked although it was more like an order.

"Hai" Koyuki nodded as she pulled the necklace off her neck and handed him the key.

"This is…Don't fool around with me! Where's the real one?!" Dotou exclaimed as he grabbed a hold of the Princess by her shirt.

"That is not possible" Koyuki muttered before her eyes went wide "Hatake Kakashi"

"Nani?" Dotou muttered.

"I see; he switched the real for a fake" Mizore muttered.

"We'll bring him right away" Fubuki said.

"Don't worry, he'll come to us if he wants his team mates" Dotou smirked.

* * *

Down below in an icy dungeon, Naruto was held captive, chains holding him on his wrists and ankles up right. Pulling slightly on the chains, he was sent back as jolts of electricity were sent through his body. Sakura was no where around, and it appeared he was the only one _living_ in the cells around, a lot of…err...beings around the cells were skeletons of their former self. 

"Kuso! If I had known something like this was going to happen I would have practiced the Nawanuke no jutsu more" Naruto cursed. Pulling slowly on the binds on his legs, he pulled up on of his legs and brought it to his mouth as he pulled out what looked like a nail file.

"Hehe, even if I'm not able use my chakra, being able to do something in such a circumstance is what makes me a real ninja" Naruto chuckled. Suddenly the sound of foot steps advancing echoed through the dungeon, Naruto faking being unconscious, noting that it was Koyuki being locked up by two ninja. Hearing the two ninja leave, Naruto opened his eyes and glanced at the princess before him.

"Well deserved" Koyuki said looking at the locked up boy.

"You too" Naruto muttered.

"I suppose" Koyuki answered.

* * *

"I said let me go!" Sakura growled as she was placed in an individual cell, separated from other cells. 

"No can do little girl, you make to much of an excellent hostage" Nadare smirked, holding the girls chin through the bars who stepped back at the cold touch and rammed herself into the cells door, falling back down on the ground.

"I said…let me go" Sakura panted, stepping up again, her arms still in binds.

"And I said no" Nadare smirked. Suddenly an explosion erupted at the base of the fortress, the sound echoing through the halls to the two people in the separate cell holding.

"Looks like your team has come to rescue you and your little friend, and these are the jounin of Konoha these days? Pathetic" Nadare sneered, not making any announcement that he was going any where. Sakura made no comment, but was glaring mentally, about to blow a fuse literally.

* * *

At the sound of the explosion, two guards ran passed Naruto's cell, shocked to find the boy on the ground and so they checked on him opening the cell door after removing the tag off it. Lifting the boy on the side, they were shocked to find him awake, before he beat them unconscious and took the keys from them, smirking. 

"I told you know to underestimate ninja" Naruto grinned, twirling the keys on his finger before he released Koyuki and went up the elevator. Coming out of the elevator, they were confronted with a Snow ninja who had jumped up from below, blocking his path.

"Why you!" Naruto growled as he began attacking the ninja.

"Hold it Naruto" the ninja spoke, it was Kakashi's voice. Instantly the outfit was pulled to reveal that Kakashi was under it.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto questioned.

"Sorry to keep you waiting" Kakashi sighed as he tossed Naruto his shuriken pouch which was filled with other ninja items.

"I am glad to see the Princess is fine, but where is Sakura-chan?" Kakashi questioned.

"Oi, Dickless where's Ugly?" Sai questioned as he and Sasuke jumped from below after kicking away a few Snow ninja.

"Yea, you switched the hexagonal crystal for a fake didn't you?" Koyuki questioned.

"Yea, sorry, here" Kakashi nodded as he handed the woman the pendant.

"So where is Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know-"

"I said, let me go!" Sakura's voice growled, then the sound of electricity echoed, before a painful scream coursed through the males ears.

"Sakura!" they exclaimed.

"Sasuke you get Sakura, we'll go do the rest" Kakashi ordered.

"Aa" Sasuke nodded as he jumped back up from where he came from, racing up the ice walls.

* * *

"Itai" Sakura muttered as she stood back up, it seemed the guy had just turned on some electrical current or something because as soon as she rammed into the bar doors, it sent her back, repelling her form with electricity. 

"I have had enough of this" Sakura growled as her chakra was pumped through her body and she ripped off her binds.

"Impossible, no one should be able to do that with the amount of chakra you had to begin with!" Nadare exclaimed.

"Haven't you ever heard of concealing charka?" Sakura glared, as she pulled the bars apart, ignoring the electricity that was surging through her body and tossing it away.

"So you aren't as weak as you showed your self to be" Nadare smirked.

"I never claimed I wasn't strong" Sakura glared as ice slithered over his form, holding him in place, so only his head was unfrozen "Let's try this again shall we?" Sakura glared as she punched the man down the hole for the dungeon as Sasuke came running up it.

"Nani? Sasuke?" Sakura muttered.

"Did you put that ice around his form?" Sasuke questioned. Sakura froze, now that she thought about it, she did.

"I have no idea…" Sakura stared in shock.

"No time for a mid-life crisis! Let's go!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Hai!" Sakura nodded as the walls and whatever else began moving out of the girls way without her even touching them, shocking Sasuke, but he really didn't care anyway. Watching the girl work, it was like she really was controlling the iced walls to move how she wanted them to, but the look in her eyes told him that she had no idea what so ever on what the hell was happening and just went along with it. In a matter of minutes they arrived to where Kakashi and the rest were. Koyuki was on the top of the staircase, handing over the hexagonal crystal to Dotou, much to the shock of her team.

"Nani? What are you doing?" Naruto exclaimed.

"It seems people have forgotten that I am an actress" Koyuki smirked.

"Well done Koyuki-chan" Dotou smirked.

"Yes, everything was an act that is why I said I am an actress!" Koyuki exclaimed as she pulled out Sandayuu's sword and stabbed her uncle with it.

"Baka!" Dotou exclaimed as he and Koyuki fell off the stair case they were on, before Dotou ripped off his robes to reveal he had chakra armour on and mechanical wings sprouted from his back and he flew to the sky "Pity, such good ninja, you guys will perish in this castle" Dotou smirked, flying out of the fortress roof.

"Damn!" Kakashi exclaimed "Let's go!"

Nodding in agreement, the Naruto-less team seven raced out of the snow fortress, avoiding the falling debris, which Sakura kept forcing out of the way unconsciously. Upon the arrival out of the fortress, the tall monstrous building fell to the ground as the Snow shinobi blocked their path, stopping them from rescuing Koyuki, or Naruto who had gone after her.

"I have no idea where that ice of yours came from, but you will have to do a lot more to stop me" Nadare smirked, speeding to her with a kunai drawn, which she blocked with her own and gave a chakra infused kick.

"Your guess is as good as mine" Sakura glared as she and the snow shinobi began sparring with various jutsus. Suddenly a snow dragon flew from Kakashi's direction and hit Nadare right in the head.

"Sakura, Sasuke, Sai, go after Koyuki" Kakashi ordered.

"Whatever" Sakura muttered; running away from the battle and towards the direction of Dotou and Koyuki. Behind her were Sasuke and Sai who were being chased by the remaining Snow Shinobi.

* * *

"Ugly, now?" Sai questioned. 

"Just wait a little more" Sakura ordered, turning around and hitting the advancing snow shinobi with a good side kick.

"Now?" Sasuke questioned.

"Hold on" Sakura growled "Sai block them off for a second will you?"

"Gotcha" Sai nodded as he created a painted bird out of no where which held them back for a good time **(A/N: I'm not totally sure about Sai's abilities yet, but I have heard from some where that his jutsus are similar to this) **

Suddenly, something flew over the head of Sakura forcing her to roll forward and kneel on the ground. _'Damn it'_ Sakura cursed as she threw a kunai towards the flying snow kunoichi.

"I got it, Sasuke after five seconds, turn twenty degrees left and run thirty metres ahead, that's where the tree branch is" Sakura ordered.

"Right!" Sasuke nodded as he turned, out of snow coat came dozens of kunai which were attached to various strings which attached them selves to the tree branch Sakura was talking about.

"What ever you do will be useless" Mizore insisted as he snow boarded his way towards the pink haired girl.

"Tch" Sakura glared as a snow ball formed into her hands. _'I have no idea what the hell is with me lately, but I'll use it to my advantage'_ Sakura muttered before throwing the chakra infused snow ball towards the snow boarding shinobi at incredible speeds, hitting him directly in the stomach before a rain of kunai pelted towards the man, the ends of the kunai attached with something that exploded instantly; small squares of paper falling onto the guy like snow.

"I'll be nice and let you off easily today" Sakura smirked "Sakura Fubuki no Jutsu **(5)**" the girl threw her kunai towards the guy which had an explosive tag on it, as soon as the kunai landed a big explosion erupted in the forest, making her team mates sweatdrop slightly _'Always with a bang'_ Sai and Sasuke sighed. The explosion caused the snow kunoichi to fly right into the web of strings, tying up her mechanical wings before they released themselves again, snapping the strings into like twigs.

"We Snow Shinobi aren't that weak" Fubuki declared.

"Maybe" Sasuke muttered from behind her "Shishi rendan! **(6)**" Sasuke exclaimed as he tossed her to the ground and slammed her down with his leg.

"Aww…no fair, you guys are having all the fun" Sai sighed.

"Then take those two!" Sakura glared as she dodged the incoming kunai from the shinobi behind the emotionalist artist.

"Oh, right" Sai sweatdropped as he effortlessly turned around and stabbed each one in the gut, allowing Sakura to do the rest as she punched both with chakra infused fists.

"Tch, even if ninjutsu and genjutsu don't work on you, there is no way you can beat my taijutsu" Sakura smirked as she slammed the men's head together creating a loud cracking sound before tossing them up into the air, where Sasuke slammed them down with his feet, each snow shinobi landing on Mizore before a crackling sound erupted from the contact, glowing a bright pink. Watching each of the snow shinobi fall to the ground, Sakura semi glared at them, trying to figure out what was with the blast of pink.

"What happened?" Sasuke questioned, landing next to the girl.

"I'm not to sure…" Sakura frowned "But maybe…" Sakura muttered.

* * *

"Nee-chan!" Naruto shouted as he raced towards Dotou and Koyuki with the director on the mechanical vehicle. 

"Naruto" Koyuki gasped as she watched him jump of the cart and run towards her and Dotou.

"Hyoton Kokuryuu Boufuusetsu **(7)**" Dotou exclaimed after his hands moved into various hand seals. Thrusting his arm forward a black dragon emerged from his fist and charged towards Naruto with red eyes.

"Suiton Suiryudan no Jutsu!" Sakura exclaimed as a water dragon emerged from the cracked ice and held back the black dragon, protecting Naruto.

"Sakura-chan" Naruto sighed in relief.

"Can't let you have all the fun can I?" Sakura smirked as the water dragon fended off the black one. In an instant as the two dragons clashed again, the erupted into a cloud of smoke sending the shinobi that were around up into the air.

"Naruto!" Koyuki exclaimed watching the blonde fall from the sky and land in another block of ice, cracking it on impact; Dotou seemed to smirk in triumph.

"What's wrong? This isn't affecting me" Naruto growled as he lifted himself off the ground.

_'And this is why I am still amazed he made it to chuunin'_ Sakura sighed.

"Naruto, yamatte! This time you will really die!" Koyuki cried.

"Believe in me" Naruto muttered "If you believe in me, I will definitely not lose!" Naruto growled; the device on his stomach slowly cracking.

"No way…Don't tell me his chakra is leaking out" Dotou grumbled, gritting his teeth in anger before running towards the boy and punching him into the ice block which broke on contact, leaving Naruto to sink to the depths of the water body.

"Damn it!" Sakura cursed "Damn little persistent kid" Sakura glared at the sinking boy.

"Maybe you're just a little feeble" Sai mocked.

_'Had you not been on my team, I would so punch you right now'_ Sakura glared "Sai-" Suddenly the crackling sound of birds chirping and electricity mixing together erupted from the scene as Sasuke raced towards Dotou with his Chidori in hand.

"Take this! Chidori! **(8)**" Sasuke exclaimed as he hit Dotou in the heart of his chakra armour, only managing to crack the armour.

"Damn" Sakura cursed as she thrust her hand up and snow rose from the ground to soften Sasuke's landing.

"As if that level jutsu would work on me" Dotou chuckled evilly.

"Kuso" Sasuke cursed.

"Damn" Sakura cursed, glaring at Dotou "Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu" Sakura exclaimed as yet another water dragon was performed and aimed it self towards Dotou, who dodged it effortlessly.

"Don't think you can get me with the same jutsu twice" Dotou smirked.

"Tch" Sakura scoffed as the dragon followed Dotou where ever he went "Keep still would ya?!" Sakura glared, directing the dragon to continue following Dotou while a bolt of lightning came from the sky and zapped Dotou, stopping him in his tracks; long enough so that Sakura could immobilize him and hit him with the water dragon where Sasuke hit the Chidori, oddly enough only making the crack bigger.

"Sakura how on earth are you doing that?!" Sasuke exclaimed, bringing the girl out of her reverie which she seemed to place herself in when she made the water jutsu. Staring at her hands in shock, the girl fell to the ground, shaking slightly, not sure what the hell she just did.

"I have no idea" Sakura muttered before another surge of pain ran through her system and forced her to faint.

"Sakura?" Sasuke muttered, noting that the girl had fallen near him.

"Her chakras too worn out, and so is mine!" Sai cursed.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted waking up the boy who was sinking in the water.

_'Oi, demon fox, stop lying there and do something'_ Naruto glared at his stomach. Suddenly chakra surged through Naruto's system, breaking the metal device before the blonde swam up to the surface, with thousands of clones by his side.

"I will pay back what you did to me with compound interest" Naruto smirked.

"What big words. Souryuu Boufuusetsu **(9)**!" Dotou exclaimed as two black dragon carps emerged from his fists and began attacking the clones in a black cyclone.

"It's all over" Dotou smirked "Everything is all over!" Dotou chuckled evilly.

"I told you it's not over yet" Naruto sneered, the smoke clearing to reveal to Naruto's standing around a ball of energy "If you say something's over, it means justice has prevailed and evil loses. It obvious this will be a happy ending"

"Naruto! I will believe in you this unlucky princess believes you are the greatest ninja!" Koyuki cheered.

"That…I already know!" Naruto grinned as both Naruto's raced towards Dotou "Take this! Rasengan **(10)**!" Naruto exclaimed as he shoved the ball of chakra into Dotou's chest, cracking his chakra armour and sending him spinning into one of the glaciers, cracking it instantly as he fell to earth cracking open the mirror as flowers bloomed from the snow and ice melted into ponds.

"Damn…I must be dreaming" Sakura muttered as her body struggled to sit up "I thought I was in an ice field" Sakura murmured.

"You were in one" Sasuke chuckled slightly at the look of confusion on her face.

"Catch up with the times Ugly" Sai smirked.

"Shut up both of you" Sakura sighed as she fell back to the ground _'It reminds me of when I was younger'_ Sakura realized as she looked around the fields of flowers, thinking back to the gardens that existed in the Haruno district, of course they were never removed, but the girl had never actually visited them in a long time, so she assumed they were all gone _'Oji-sama, you never told me what our ability was, he broke his promise'_ Sakura frowned, listening to the conversation of the younger Koyuki and a man which Sakura guessed was her father.

_"Believe in the future, if you do, spring will definitely come" the man spoke "Koyuki, what would you like to do when spring comes?" _

_"I'll become a princess" she answered. _

_"Hm? What kind of Princess?" the man asked. _

_"Hmm…a kind, strong one. A princess who believes in justice" the young girl chirped. _

_"That's going to be very hard work" the man laughed. _

"I said that before" Koyuki murmured.

_"But if you don't give up and keep believing in your dreams, one day for sure, you will become one" the man smiled as he came towards Koyuki, putting the Hexagonal crystal around her neck. _

_"Can you see a very beautiful princess standing there?" the man asked_.

Without realizing it, tears fell from the actress's eyes, remembering what her father had said and what he looked like.

_"But it's undecided yet, there's one more ting I want to become" the young Koyuki smiled. _

_"Nani?" the man asked. _

_"An Actress" Koyuki grinned. The man chuckling at his daughters answer. _

Smiling a real smile in ages, the actress chuckled with her deceased father.

"And this is one happy ending" Naruto muttered before drifting off into a long slumber.

_'Tch, frozen tears…'_ Sakura glared slightly at the crying woman.

* * *

"After all that, the device was incomplete" Koyuki sighed. 

"So even after all that it's going to be winter here again" Sai frowned.

"No, we will use the device, study it and refine it, then some day the Snow Country will become the Spring Country" Koyuki smiled.

"But it's going to be a waste. You are so popular, and now you're going to quit acting" Naruto frowned.

"Who said I was going to quit acting?" Koyuki questioned.

"Eh?" Naruto exclaimed.

"As the monarchy and actress of the Snow Country, I will show that I can do both. It's stupid to give up isn't it?" Koyuki smiled.

"T-that's…" Kakashi exclaimed pointing to the green book in her hands.

"Well then, see you" Koyuki smiled as she waked away from the leaf shinobi, minus Sakura and towards a group of young kids begging for an autograph. Naruto smiled at the woman before crying in defeat.

"Nani?" Sai questioned.

"I didn't her auto graph!" Naruto cried.

"If you're talking about the autograph, then I've got it" Sasuke said.

"Eh?!!!!!" Sai, Naruto and Kakashi exclaimed watching Sasuke pull out a small envelope with a rainbow on the corner. Opening up the envelope, Naruto pulled out a small photograph that had been signed by the actress her self.

"Aww…I wish she had used a better picture of me" Naruto frowned, looking at the picture of him in hospital in various casts and bandages, asleep while Koyuki kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey guys…where's Ugly?" Sai questioned, only now noticing that the pink haired girl wasn't any where around.

"Eh?!" Kakashi and Naruto exclaimed.

"I thought she was with us at the beginning" Kakashi frowned.

"That's because she was with us at the beginning" Sasuke sighed.

"Alright, come on, let's go find her" Kakashi sighed.

* * *

Away from the festival, leaning on a bridge post, the missing cherry blossom could be found gazing over the defrosted lake and the wild life that swam in it. Around the lake, were various trees, weeping billows, birches, oaks and ironically the one which drew Sakura's attention most was the cherry blossom tree that stood in the middle. Averting her gaze to her hands, Sakura stared long and hard, trying to figure out how on earth she manipulated the water, ice, lightning and fire like that, she had never done it before, nor did she know she could do it. Gazing back at the water, the girl sighed as a gentle breeze picked up her loose and danced with it. It seemed so peaceful, so dream like, it was surreal in the girl's mind; it seemed like ages since she just let her self relax and enjoy the beauty of nature, man she could stay here for hours and not get bored, pity her raging team mates felt other wise. 

"Sa-ku-ra" Kakashi glared, sounding each syllable of her name slowly.

"Err…Yea?" Sakura turned her head to where Kakashi was to find four very irritated males, of course each one a member of team seven.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Sai exclaimed.

"What am I doing here? What the hell are you guys doing here?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"We're looking for you!" Naruto shouted.

"Why? The ship doesn't deport for Konoha for another two hours" Sakura frowned, confused.

"Could you at least tell one of us you're going? So we don't have to spend hours looking for you!!!" Kakashi glared.

"Demo…" Sakura frowned.

_FLASH BACK… _

_"Kakashi, I'm going to go for a walk" Sakura said. _

_"Hai" Kakashi nodded, not really paying attention to the girl. _

_…END FLASH BACK_

"I did tell you" Sakura frowned.

"Oh…right" Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Well, let's go back to the festival!" Naruto chirped, dragging Sai and Kakashi back to the festival.

"How long ago did you tell him you were going for a walk?" Sasuke questioned.

"Not long…I think…when the festival started" Sakura answered.

"That was three hours ago" Sasuke scoffed.

"Tch. Whatever" Sakura muttered walking away from Sasuke after picking up her gear.

_'What's with her?'_ Sasuke questioned.

**_'Maybe you haven't noticed, but she had changed a lot over the years' _**

_'I noticed, but I think she's hiding something that should be told to some one' _

**_'Let her tell some one on her own accord, I think she's still dealing with the fact that you're back' _**

_'She's the one who brought me back' _

**_'I know'_**

* * *

**Notes: **

-Hehe…yea, I know, I used the first movie mission for this one –sweatdrops- I hope you don't mind

-Like this chapter quiet a bit :D slightly Sasusaku moments in there –smiles-

**Translations: **

**1) ****Hyoton: Tsubame Fubuki-** literally "Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm"  
Type: Unknown, probably: Offensive, Short to mid-range (0-10m)  
The user launches a bunch of ice needles that are in the shape of mini-swallows. These needles can change direction in the air.  
This jutsu has only appeared in the Naruto movie Daikatsugeki! Yukihime Ninpōchō dattebayo!!, and is therefore not considered canon by most fans.

**2) ****Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu-** literally "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique"  
Type: C-rank, Offensive, Close range (0-5m)  
Utilizing a high amount of chakra, the user creates a large ball of flame. When an Uchiha clan member masters this technique he/she is recognized as an adult.

**3) ****Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu-** literally "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique"

Type: B-rank, Offensive, All ranges  
A powerful attack that creates a huge current of water in the shape of a dragon, which is sent towards the opponent. Except when used by extremely powerful ninja, this jutsu can only be done when in or near a body of water. Hatake Kakashi copies this technique from Momochi Zabuza with Sharingan and uses it to defend against Zabuza's

**4) ****Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu-** literally "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique"  
Type: A-rank, Offensive, Mid- to long range (5+m)  
A technique used to create a massive blast of water, this technique is Momochi Zabuza's, but when he attempted to use it against Hatake Kakashi, Kakashi used his Sharingan to copy it and use it against Zabuza before he could complete it himself.

**5) Sakura Fubuki no Jutsu-** I'm not sure about this as a translation, but it is used in the movie where Sakura throws tones kunai which have bags of little explosive tags on them which cover the opponent and then a final normal sized explosive tag is thrown towards the opponent, exploding when the kunai lands either on the ground or on the person. I would assume it would be roughly a D-ranked to C-ranked jutsu, with a medium to long ranged attack (5m+)

**6)**** Shishi Rendan- **literally "Lion Combo"  
Type: C-rank, Offensive, Close range (0-5m)  
The result of Uchiha Sasuke copying Rock Lee's similar combo. While not able to completely emulate Rock Lee's agility and power, the Sharingan allowed him to gain the ability to push himself to achieve a similar effect, and the result was a copied Kage Buyo followed by a series of kicks to the falling target. It isn't devastating as Lee's Lotus techniques, but also isn't nearly as dangerous to perform, and is quite effective against most targets.

**7) ****Hyoton: Kokuryuu Boufuusetsu-** literally "Ice Release: Black Dragon Outburst Snowstorm"  
Type: Unknown, probably: Offensive, Mid- to long range (5+m)  
The user creates a black dragon stream with red eyes that is sent towards the opponent. There's an improved version, the Souryubo Fusetsu, in which he shoots two black dragons that attack the enemy by creating a large black tornado. This jutsu has only appeared in the Naruto movie Daikatsugeki! Yukihime Ninpōchō dattebayo!!, and is therefore not considered canon by most fans.

**8) ****Chidori-** literally "One Thousand Birds"  
Type: A-rank, Offensive, Short range (0-5m)  
A very powerful technique that requires a huge amount of chakra, which becomes visible around the user's hand. Once the hand has been charged, it is then thrust straight through the target. Due to the direct and obvious path the user of the technique must take to achieve an effective strike, a user of Chidori is left highly vulnerable to counterattacks and dodges. The technique can only be safely attempted by a ninja with the Sharingan or a similar countermeasure to defenses and attacks. Chidori is said to be one of the few original techniques of Hatake Kakashi, who is also one of only two known users, the other being Uchiha Sasuke. Uchiha Itachi is theoretically also capable of performing the Chidori, as he was watching Uchiha Sasuke with his Sharingan activated when Sasuke failed to kill him with the technique.  
Although it produces a distinctive sound and is by no means stealthy, Chidori has nonetheless been classified as a possible assassination technique due to the incredible speed it requires and the devastating effect of a successful execution.  
The name Chidori comes from the sound the technique makes, which is said to remind the listener of the chirping produced by a thousand birds. Because of the high amount of chakra it requires, a ninja can only use Chidori a certain number of times per day.

**9) Souryuu Boufuusetsu-** I have no translation for this, but if you check the movie at the end of it this jutsu is used, you can see what it looks like. I would consider it probably an A-ranked jutsu and a long ranged attack.

**10) ****Rasengan-**literally "Spiraling Sphere"  
Type: A-rank, Offensive, Short range (0-5m)  
A Ninjutsu technique incorporating the chakra control needed for both the tree climbing training and water walking training.  
The Rasengan is a very high-level technique that took the Yondaime Hokage three years to perfect. Unlike the Chidori, the Rasengan does not "cut" per se. It "grinds" rather, literally creating a hurricane of chakra formed in the shape of a sphere, between the size of a softball and a baseball. It does have a drawback, however, the Rasengan needs great chakra control. It is a self-sustaining technique so once the chakra is molded, the user doesn't need any more chakra. It requires no hand seals and can be used with one hand. Before the timeskip, when Naruto uses this technique, he typically uses a clone to generate the swirl while the main body holds the chakra in his hand. Afterward, Naruto was shown to be able to execute a Rasengan easily using one hand.

* * *

Chapter 3: My name is Haruno Sakura, it's who I am

* * *


	4. My Name is Haruno Sakura, it's who I am!

Chapter 3: My name is Haruno Sakura, it's who I am! SHANNARO!

* * *

**Summary: **She was admired, she was worshiped; she was praised. She grew in strength and power, she grew distant towards people. Since five, she had trying to save the people around her, but then she just gave up after her closest friend left her. She had never cried since the slaughter of her clan, but she still smiled, but as soon as he left, everything changed, she stopped smiling, she had forgotten how to. She had saved people numerous times in battle with her knowledge and abilities, she brought them back healthy from the missions they came across, it didn't matter, as long as her whole team came back safely, even if she was on the brink of death, she wouldn't allow her self to die pathetically. She had saved everyone, yet she was the one in need of saving; saving from herself and her decaying heart. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.

* * *

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Inner selves'**_

"Talking"

_FLASH BACK…_

P.O.V

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

* * *

**Recap:**

"Damn…I must be dreaming" Sakura muttered as her body struggled to sit up "I thought I was in an ice field" Sakura murmured.

"You were in one" Sasuke chuckled slightly at the look of confusion on her face.

"Catch up with the times Ugly" Sai smirked.

"Shut up both of you" Sakura sighed as she fell back to the ground _'It reminds me of when I was younger'_ Sakura realized as she looked around the fields of flowers, thinking back to the gardens that existed in the Haruno district, of course they were never removed, but the girl had never actually visited them in a long time, so she assumed they were all gone _'Oji-sama, you never told me what our ability was, he broke his promise'_ Sakura frowned, listening to the conversation of the younger Koyuki and a man which Sakura guessed was her father.

"_Believe in the future, if you do, spring will definitely come" the man spoke "Koyuki, what would you like to do when spring comes?"_

"_I'll become a princess" she answered._

"_Hm? What kind of Princess?" the man asked._

"_Hmm…a kind, strong one. A princess who believes in justice" the young girl chirped._

"_That's going to be very hard work" the man laughed._

"I said that before" Koyuki murmured.

"_But if you don't give up and keep believing in your dreams, one day for sure, you will become one" the man smiled as he came towards Koyuki, putting the Hexagonal crystal around her neck._

"_Can you see a very beautiful princess standing there?" the man asked_.

Without realizing it, tears fell from the actress's eyes, remembering what her father had said and what he looked like.

"_But it's undecided yet, there's one more ting I want to become" the young Koyuki smiled._

"_Nani?" the man asked._

"_An Actress" Koyuki grinned. The man chuckling at his daughters answer._

Smiling a real smile in ages, the actress chuckled with her deceased father.

"And this is one happy ending" Naruto muttered before drifting off into a long slumber.

'_Tch, frozen tears…'_ Sakura glared slightly at the crying woman.

--

"After all that, the device was incomplete" Koyuki sighed.

"So even after all that it's going to be winter here again" Sai frowned.

"No, we will use the device, study it and refine it, then some day the Snow Country will become the Spring Country" Koyuki smiled.

"But it's going to be a waste. You are so popular, and now you're going to quit acting" Naruto frowned.

"Who said I was going to quit acting?" Koyuki questioned.

"Eh?" Naruto exclaimed.

"As the monarchy and actress of the Snow Country, I will show that I can do both. It's stupid to give up isn't it?" Koyuki smiled.

"T-that's…" Kakashi exclaimed pointing to the green book in her hands.

"Well then, see you" Koyuki smiled as she waked away from the leaf shinobi, minus Sakura and towards a group of young kids begging for an autograph. Naruto smiled at the woman before crying in defeat.

"Nani?" Sai questioned.

"I didn't her auto graph!" Naruto cried.

"If you're talking about the autograph, then I've got it" Sasuke said.

"Eh?!!!!!" Sai, Naruto and Kakashi exclaimed watching Sasuke pull out a small envelope with a rainbow on the corner. Opening up the envelope, Naruto pulled out a small photograph that had been signed by the actress her self.

"Aww…I wish she had used a better picture of me" Naruto frowned, looking at the picture of him in hospital in various casts and bandages, asleep while Koyuki kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey guys…where's Ugly?" Sai questioned, only now noticing that the pink haired girl wasn't any where around.

"Eh?!" Kakashi and Naruto exclaimed.

"I thought she was with us at the beginning" Kakashi frowned.

"That's because she was with us at the beginning" Sasuke sighed.

"Alright, come on, let's go find her" Kakashi sighed.

--

Away from the festival, leaning on a bridge post, the missing cherry blossom could be found gazing over the defrosted lake and the wild life that swam in it. Around the lake, were various trees, weeping billows, birches, oaks and ironically the one which drew Sakura's attention most was the cherry blossom tree that stood in the middle. Averting her gaze to her hands, Sakura stared long and hard, trying to figure out how on earth she manipulated the water, ice, lightning and fire like that, she had never done it before, nor did she know she could do it. Gazing back at the water, the girl sighed as a gentle breeze picked up her loose and danced with it. It seemed so peaceful, so dream like, it was surreal in the girl's mind; it seemed like ages since she just let her self relax and enjoy the beauty of nature, man she could stay here for hours and not get bored, pity her raging team mates felt other wise.

"Sa-ku-ra" Kakashi glared, sounding each syllable of her name slowly.

"Err…Yea?" Sakura turned her head to where Kakashi was to find four very irritated males, of course each one a member of team seven.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Sai exclaimed.

"What am I doing here? What the hell are you guys doing here?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"We're looking for you!" Naruto shouted.

"Why? The ship doesn't deport for Konoha for another two hours" Sakura frowned, confused.

"Could you at least tell one of us you're going? So we don't have to spend hours looking for you!!!" Kakashi glared.

"Demo…" Sakura frowned.

_FLASH BACK…_

"_Kakashi, I'm going to go for a walk" Sakura said._

"_Hai" Kakashi nodded, not really paying attention to the girl._

…_END FLASH BACK_

"I did tell you" Sakura frowned.

"Oh…right" Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Well, let's go back to the festival!" Naruto chirped, dragging Sai and Kakashi back to the festival.

"How long ago did you tell him you were going for a walk?" Sasuke questioned.

"Not long…I think…when the festival started" Sakura answered.

"That was three hours ago" Sasuke scoffed.

"Tch. Whatever" Sakura muttered walking away from Sasuke after picking up her gear.

'_What's with her?'_ Sasuke questioned.

'_**Maybe you haven't noticed, but she had changed a lot over the years'**_

'_I noticed, but I think she's hiding something that should be told to some one'_

'_**Let her tell some one on her own accord, I think she's still dealing with the fact that you're back'**_

'_She's the one who brought me back'_

'_**I know'**_

**End Recap**

* * *

"Well done Team Seven on a successful mission" Tsunade congratulated. In front of her were all five members of Team Seven as well as Sakura's bird who was residing on her shoulder, sleeping.

"Thank you Tsunade-baa-chan!!" Naruto yelled, waking up the quiet bird, which sent a deadly glare towards him.

"Don't call me that you little brat" Tsunade glared.

"Ano, is it me, or has it suddenly gotten colder in here?" Naruto questioned "And why is Sakura-chan glaring at me?"

"I'm not glaring at you, Guyver is" Sakura answered, pointing to the bird who was ready to kill the blonde haired ninja mercilessly.

"That's ridiculous Sakura-chan, birds can't glare" Naruto chuckled nervously.

"If Guyver can kill I don't see why he can't glare" Sakura sighed "Anyway, is that all Tsunade?"

"Oh, right, well done on a mission complete, and now you may all leave, except, Sakura-chan, I want to speak with you" Tsunade announced.

"Hai" Sakura nodded as the four males walked out of the office.

"Have you taken the idea of ANBU into consideration?" Tsunade asked.

"I have, however, I am still declining, if I wish to be an ANBU I will do what everyone else does and take the exams and work my up from there, however, currently I have no interest in becoming one" Sakura answered, noting that Guyver was nuzzling closer to her face and that his talons were extremely sharp.

"Fine, if that's the best we can get, it will have to do, you may take the second lot of ANBU exams next year" Tsunade sighed in defeat.

"Is that all?' Sakura asked.

"No, a couple of days ago we were searching through the Third's belongings because his grand child had finally allowed us to move things around, and we came across something every interesting" Tsunade spoke.

"And you want me to go through it and make sure it's safe?" Sakura asked, confused at what this had to do with her "Wait, what exactly was this something?"

"Well, we aren't entirely sure because it was locked up in a wooden chest, and it won't open no matter how hard we try" Tsunade explained.

"So you want me to try and open it?" Sakura frowned, still very confused.

"The chest had your picture on it from when you were younger, so we presumed it was yours" Tsunade answered "We believe, if it wasn't yours the Third kept it in hiding to give to you"

"I see…so…" Sakura muttered, still not sure of what was happening.

"I'm going to give it to you" Tsunade said as she leaned down under her desk and pulled up a mahogany coloured chest. On the lid it had a picture of Sakura when she was younger and at the front it had a padlock on it; however the padlock seemed quite odd with an interesting key hole that in the girl's mind resembled a whole sakura flower. On the sides were various engravings, each different to the last making no two alike. If Sakura looked carefully enough she could have sworn that the engraved pictures were of symbols; water, earth, fire, thunder, air, grass, snow. Not knowing what the contents of the box were, Sakura assumed that the box was about the size of one of her many books at home, one of those really big ones.

"This was addressed to me from the Third?" Sakura questioned, picking up the chest from Tsunade's desk.

"Yes it was" Tsunade nodded.

"Interesting" Sakura muttered "Is that all Tsunade?" Sakura asked.

"Yes that is all" Tsunade spoke.

"Okay, ja" Sakura bowed, Guyver doing a little bow as well before both went out of the office with the chest in hand.

"Shizune I need sake!" Tsunade called out.

"Hai" Shizune replied.

* * *

"So what's the thing that the third left for you?" Naruto asked, as soon as Sakura stepped out of the office, alerting Guyver, who immediately began pecking at Naruto's skull.

"Itai! Itai! Sakura get your stupid bird to stop!" Naruto pleaded running away from the bird.

"Guyver is NOT a stupid bird" Sakura glared, walking away from him, which Guyver noticed and began following her, landing on her shoulder.

"So what did the Third leave you?" Kakashi questioned.

"A chest" Sakura answered, indicating to the chest in her hands.

"Really! Cool! Let me see let me see!" Naruto exclaimed as he pulled the chest away from the girl's hand.

"Stop being such an idiot!" Sakura glared, punching him with a chakra infused fist, taking the chest away from him before he flew away.

"But I want to see" Naruto pouted.

"Even if you want to see what was inside it, you couldn't, apparently it's been a struggle to open it" Sakura explained.

"All it needs a good bashing!" Naruto smirked, swiping the box away from Sakura again and began attacking it with various jutsus.

"Naruto, would you please stop" Sakura sighed. Instantly, the blonde stopped, waiting for the smoke to be cleared to reveal that the box was undamaged.

"What the hell?! That's impossible!" Naruto exclaimed glaring at the box, Guyver now in the air ready to hit the boy.

"Now that you have had your attempt, can I please go _with_ the box, it is _mine_?" Sakura glared.

"But I want to know what's in it" Naruto frowned.

"Too bad" Sakura glared taking the box away "Guyver, let's go" Sakura called out as the bird flew behind her.

* * *

"So what do you think is in it Guyver?" Sakura asked the bird as the girl sat down on the lake bank, the hawk on her shoulder, who just turned his head in confusion.

"Of course, you have no idea" Sakura chuckled.

"Talking to animals now? Wow, your skills keep improving with the passing days" Sasuke smirked behind the girl.

"I know, I have so many" Sakura said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"I guess that means you haven't tried opening the chest yet?" Sasuke questioned sitting next to her; which seemed to make Guyver angry as he switched shoulders, sitting on the shoulder next to Sasuke.

"No, I tried, it seems the chest won't open until I find the key to it" Sakura answered.

"Then let me Chidori it" Sasuke smirked.

"Naruto has already used his Rasengan on it, I doubt the Chidori is any better" Sakura smirked, as if saying the Chidori was weaker than the Rasengan; slowly the girl stood up, taking the chest with her.

"Well, I'm off to search for this blasted key" Sakura waved, instantly disappearing out of sight.

* * *

"What was the Third thinking when he gave me an unbreakable chest with no key to it?" Sakura sighed. Currently she was searching through her spotless house for a presumable Sakura flower shaped key and boy it was provin to be impossible, sure, she understood that when they moved to Suna and stuff, the house got renovated all, but everything was supposed to be returned and put back in the correct places and stuff, but now she had her doubts.

"This is ridiculous, I should be training, or finding out why my chakra was like that in the Snow Country" Sakura frowned "I'll figure it out later, I'm going to the library" Sakura muttered "Guyver you coming?" the hawk made no motion to indicate that he was going anywhere. Chuckling to herself, the girl raced out of the Haruno main house and through the district before coming out of the hidden land and racing towards the library.

* * *

"Hi, how may I help you today Sakura-sama?" the librarian asked.

"Hmm? Oh, you can go back to whatever you were doing, I know this place pretty well anyway" Sakura smiled forcefully before she walked through the isles of scrolls and books looking for something in particular _'There! Elemental jutsus! That should have something about what's with my jutsus lately, especially my chakra'_ Sakura smirked to her self before she pulled the scrolls out, sat a table and began reading the contents of the first dusty scroll, it seemed not many people had taken a good look at them in a while.

"Okay…let's start with water jutsus turning into ice jutsus" Sakura muttered.

'_Okay…water jutsus…most need water to work; only very few can create a water jutsu without water near by. Most water jutsus, though hit directly a majority of the time can miss, especially with jutsus such as the Suiton; Suiryudan no jutsu, there is no definite point when it will hit, nor can the water be controlled. Water jutsus have not exact accuracy, but the majority of the times it will hit, mostly on luck, but when they do it, they are quite powerful'_ Sakura recited _'T-that's not true! I was controlling the dragon! What in the world?! It didn't even have something on water freezing into ice either…maybe fire has something of better use to me…'_

'_Fire jutsus are created with large amounts of chakra build up and blown from the mouth with the seal of the tiger. Depending on the amount of chakra and age of a person will depend on the strength of the jutsu. Chakra control is part of the many factors involved with fire jutsus. Unlike water jutsus there doesn't need to be an amount of fire to begin with, however like water jutsus, there flames are not controllable'_

"Nani? Nothing there either? Maybe thunder jutsus?" Sakura murmured.

'_Similar to fire jutsus, there has to be a build up of chakra, however these jutsus are more controllable, but there is no definite control in these jutsus. Usually created with the palm of the hand, these are powerful jutsus that create a long time to master. It also take a long time for the energy build up is sufficient enough to be considered a good amount to fight with'_

"Still nothing…Perhaps Wind jutsus will have something…" Sakura grumbled.

'_Wind jutsus are the manipulation of wind to create powerful blasts of attacks'_

"Here we go" Sakura smirked in triumph.

'_However, wind jutsus need a large amount of chakra to be built up and without a device of some sort, it is almost impossible to create strong wind jutsus, however most wind jutsus have not much power to begin with and merely push the enemy away unless other jutsus are added to it, and that's when it becomes a lot more powerful'_

**(A/N: please don't quote me on these things –sweatdrops- I was basically making that whole lot up, but that's how I see the jutsus anyway)**

"Damn" Sakura cursed. Sighing, the girl picked up the elemental jutsu scrolls and walked towards the librarian, pulling out her library card while she was at it.

"Can I borrow these please?" Sakura asked.

"Sure" the librarian nodded, taking her library card and scanning it before writing town the scroll titles.

"Arigato" Sakura nodded before walking out with the scrolls in hand and going towards the forests; it seemed she always focused better out in fresh air.

* * *

"Sakura-chan" Naruto called out, trying to find the girl through the village, many hours after she had borrowed the scrolls.

"Oi, dobe why are you making so much noise?" Kiba questioned as he passed the boy, behind him was Shino and Akamaru, Hinata already running to his side.

"I'm looking for Sakura-chan" Naruto explained, missing the fact Kiba had just insulted him.

"How hard is it to find pink hair?" Kiba scoffed.

"Impossible" Naruto muttered "She's never around"

"But she has _pink_ hair, how can you not find her?" Kiba coughed.

"Trust me I ask my self that question all the time" Naruto muttered.

"It's true, she's impossible to find" Hinata sighed.

"Have you guys seen Sakura-chan?" Ino asked walking up to the group, behind her was Shikamaru and Chouji.

"Yes, have you?" Tenten asked "I haven't seen her in ages" Tenten frowned; behind her were Neji and Lee.

"How hard is it to find _pink_ hair?!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Extremely" Ino sighed.

"I have tried using my Byakugan, but even with that on I can't find her" Hinata sighed.

"Temari is in town too" Ino sighed "I was hoping to do an all girls night or something"

"Temari is in town?" Shikamaru muttered quietly to himself.

Suddenly, out of no where, the missing cherry blossom walked passed them in deep thought with scrolls in one hand and groceries in another, not even acknowledging their existence.

'_None of the scrolls had anything in them about what is happening to me, maybe one of the books at home have something on it'_

'_**You've gone through all the books already'**_

'_Damn, may be I over read something in one of them, I'm going to go over them again'_

'_**Don't bother, trust me, I read those books with you, there was nothing in those books, absolutely nothing on what was happening to you'**_

'_And you have no idea correct?'_

'_**Yea'**_

'_Damn…__they__ would probably know something, but I'm not stooping so low as to ask them'_

'_**Why not?'**_

'_For one, I have no idea were __they__ are, second, __they__ are missing Nins'_

'_**Oh right, I forgot about that'**_

'_How annoying, if I don't know what's happening, what the hell am I supposed to do?'_

'_**I don't know'**_

"Matte Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he chased after the girl, who didn't even realize that she had passed them, let alone that the boy had called her.

"Sakura-chan!" Ino gasped, chasing after the girl with Tenten and Hinata behind. In an instant, the girl was gone from sight, confusing the ninja who were chasing her.

* * *

Shuffling through the bag of the groceries Sakura pulled out an apple as she sat back onto the forest floor, studying the jutsu scroll intently, which was an ice scroll. She had already gone through the basic elements and now she was working on the next lot of jutsus which she like to call the secondary level of elemental jutsus. You see, Sakura figured the four basic elemental jutsus were water, fire, lightning and earth. Then after that you had air (she didn't consider it an actual element per say), grass, ice and any other jutsus what were out there. It was actually quite logical if one looked at it, it was simple and easier to understand in her mind if she separated them into those categories.

"Oi, Sakura, people are looking for you" Sasuke said, looking down at the girl, noting that she eating an apple and studying a scroll.

"Aa" she mumbled taking another bite of the apple.

"Are you even listening to me?" Sasuke questioned.

"Hn" Sakura grumbled after swallowing the piece of apple she was chewing on and taking another bite.

"What are you reading anyway?" Sasuke questioned.

"Aa" Sakura muttered.

"What?" Sasuke questioned.

"Aa" Sakura grunted.

"Of course, because I definitely understand what you are saying" Sasuke sighed, glaring down at the girl who was ignoring him; ignoring _him_! The great Uchiha Sasuke! Continuing to glare at the girl, Sasuke swiped the scroll out of her grasp and inspected it.

"Elemental jutsu? Ice?" Sasuke questioned.

"Aa" Sakura glared, snatching the scroll back.

"If you want to learn ice jutsus wouldn't it be better if you learnt them while we were in the Snow Country?" Sasuke questioned.

"Aa" Sakura muttered, her eyes racing over the scroll at incredible speeds to make sure she had read everything before cursing and putting it away.

'_Why don't any of the scrolls have anything?'_

'_**Maybe it has something to do with your blood'**_

'_My blood…'_

'_**Yea…'**_

'_If you're referring to the blood line traits, well, I'm now beginning to think that's what it is after going through each of these useless scrolls'_

'_**But you know nothing of what the blood line trait is so you can't be certain'**_

'_Each of the things I did, these scrolls say I can't, blood line traits are the only explanation'_

'_**True, but you still know nothing of what your blood line trait is, your Oji-sama never got to tell you'**_

'_But the Third did'_

'_**And the only thing left from him is…'**_

'_That chest!'_

'_**Damn; either they predicted this would happen, or it's just how it always worked!'**_

'_I don't care, because now we have to search for the key again'_

"I'm sorry, but I've got to go" Sakura muttered, picking up the bag of groceries and the scrolls.

"Where to?" Sasuke questioned.

"Feed Guyver" Sakura answered, turning her back and walking away before the Uchiha could say anything more.

* * *

"Where is it?" Sakura muttered as she fell onto her black covered bed. Currently, the girl was lying on her bed in her room trying to figure out where a Sakura shaped key would be. Turning her head to the side, Sakura became face to face with her team mates…well…a photo of them any way on the wooden bed side table, from when they first became genins, man that seemed so long ago. Her room wasn't anything spectacular, heck Sakura suspected that Sai had more stuff and colour in his room; the guy who had yet to understand the concept of emotions at seventeen. Like most rooms in the house, it was big. Her bed was circular, low and in the centre of the room on the back wall, opposite the two doors to the room. It had simple black covers with the Haruno symbol in the centre of the bed which was a big white circle. On both sides of her bed were small wooden bed sides with small kerosene lamps on each.

On one there was an alarm clock, and stored in each table were various books and occasionally a scroll. To the left of the bed on the wall was a book case which held another set of various books over a study desk. A metre down from the book case and study desk, another set of doors lead into a walking wardrobe, filled with various clothes for the girl, mostly black in colour, ignoring her genin outfits. On the right wall was a screen door which led to the court yard and Guyver's perch which the bird was currently occupying. Next to Guyver's perch on the wall was a calendar, which simply told the girl what dates to dread and which ones she should consider being slightly…her. The floors were wooden boards and the doors were simple sliding doors; basically a traditional Japanese house in you asked Sakura. That was basically Sakura's room, there was no colour; it was black with wooden bits and pieces and books every where. On the desk was the chest that was given her when they arrived back in Konoha from Tsunade, still to be opened.

'_How can it be this hard to try and find a key?! I have looked all over this house, even rooms which I had never even seen before!'_

'_**You have only looked through the inside of this house, perhaps it's in the outside'**_

'_Of course! How could I forget, I have like four courtyards to go through and then the Haruno Gardens!'_ Sakura exclaimed, she had this instinct; this feeling in side of her, that she would find this key.

Searching through the first courtyard after going through the Haruno Gardens, Sakura looked high and low, through the fountains, through the gardens, heck she looked every where, it was becoming quite annoying, who would have thought such a key could be this difficult to find. Getting on her hands and knees, the girl began scraping through the sand stone pavement in hopes that she would find the key. Squinting her eyes, the girl could have sworn she saw something shimmer in the night sky, but as soon as she checked her sight, the glisten was gone. Pausing for a moment, the girl sat on her calves and sighed.

"How can it be this hard?" Sakura muttered as she started towards the centre piece of the garden; a tall sand stone statue. It wasn't something that spectacular, oddly enough it sort of reminded her self of her self in a way, considering it was almost a replica of what she looked like as a child except she was much older, as in a person with a figure of a woman and she had angel wings. Why Sakura had never noticed this before was beyond her, but she didn't care, what caught her attention though was the centre of the statue, where the heart would most likely sit in a real human, in the centre there was a little hole, in the shape of a full sakura, and if Sakura had to make a guess, the exact size of the key hole for that blasted lock. Smirking to her self, she congratulated who ever put it there for making it so difficult to find before going towards the statue and pulling out the little metal piece that was put in it. How odd, what a place to hide a key. Pulling the key out, Sakura was quite shocked at the size of it; it was tiny; like it was only a fraction of the real key.

Assuming that she was correct in saying that there were most likely more pieces to the key, Sakura ran to the other court yards, going to the centre statues and pulling out various pieces of metal from them, which looked like they all belonged together.

Walking back to her room, Sakura tried putting the pieces together only to fail miserably after realizing that there was no way the pieces would attach to each other, with out something holding them together.

'_Damn! I've looked every where and this is all I was able to get!'_ Sakura cursed.

"Why did he give me this if I don't have the key?!" Sakura growled, leaving the pieces of the so called key on her table before walking out of the main house to do some training.

* * *

Five hours. That was how long the girl trained for so far, and she basically insisted that she continue even though her body was screaming for the girl to stop, she just couldn't. The amount of chakra she had in her system needed to be released before she became the first human time bomb. Ignoring the pain, the girl got up again and created another water jutsu. Heck, if she wasn't going to find out what was happening with her from what was in that box, then to hell with that, she'll figure it out the normal way, through physical practice. She had already figured it had something to do with elements, now if only she could figure out what exactly she was doing with those elements; she could practice and refine it good enough so she could use it in combat. There had to be some way that she could figure it out with out the contents in that chest from the Third, whatever it was.

Moving towards the port, the girl was going to begin practicing something she had never done before, but sure as hell she had her fair share of eye witness accounts. On the board walk of the more secluded part of port the girl performed the correct hand seals breathed in deeply, building chakra up in her lungs, and with the seal of the tiger made with her hands, the girl breathed out, releasing the chakra that had built up in her lungs in an explosion of fire…which was roughly the size of her palm. Cursing to herself, the girl continued performing the jutsu over and over again, occasionally getting bigger, but most of the time it remained the size of her palm.

Angry at herself, the girl began gathering more chakra into her lungs until it was practically begging to be released, performed the appropriate hand seals and breathed out deeply, creating a massive fire ball, the amount of chakra and pressure pushing the girl backwards. Preparing her self for an impact, earth rose from the ground preparing a soft cushioning for the girl but instead, she landed on something much softer, much firmer, like a body. Feeling an arm snake around her waist upon contact, the girl looked behind her to come face to face with a smirking Sasuke (who was enjoying the position he was in).

"Oh, hi Sasuke" Sasuke blushed slightly, trying to ignore that he had just caught her and that he was most likely watching her trying to create his Katon jutsu.

"Geez what a nice greeting I get from a friend" Sasuke scoffed, looking down into the girl's emerald eyes, noting the anger that flared in them behind the dullness.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, forgetting that she was still in Sasuke's arms.

"I could ask you the same, but I was bored and went for a walk. What exactly are you trying to do?" Sasuke questioned.

"Go get some sleep then, it's late anyway" Sakura answered, getting out of Sasuke's arms. **(A/N: Aww….)**

"Answer the question Sakura" Sasuke ordered.

"How long have you been here exactly?" Sakura asked.

"Just a few minutes, now, answer the damn question!" Sakura glared.

"Expanding my jutsu knowledge" Sakura answered.

"Like you don't already know enough" Sasuke scoffed.

"If you are referring to what happened in Snow, then I'll tell you I have no idea what so ever on how I did that" Sakura glared "Now, if you'll excuse, I'm going to continue with what I started with" Sakura turned around and began performing the appropriate seals. Breathing in deeply, the tiger seal was formed before the girl breathed out a small flame before a blast of chakra sent another massive flame out of the girl sending her backwards into Sasuke again.

"You're using too little chakra and then too much, I thought you had perfect chakra control" Sasuke mocked.

"Shut up, my chakra is still all over the place" Sakura muttered before pain shot through her lungs and the girl fell to her knees coughing up blood. Falling into a sitting position the girl cursed as she breathed in heavily.

"Perhaps, this is enough training for today" Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow looking down on the girl.

"I'm fine" Sakura muttered, standing back up and creating another 'Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu' which ended up in a tiny flame before the girl fell do the ground in exhaustion.

"Yea, you are so _fine_ that you just collapsed" Sasuke scoffed.

"Shut up Sasuke, if it makes you feel any better, I'm going home now, Guyver is probably waiting for me" Sakura glared before she disappeared into thin air.

* * *

Sunlight showered the girl in soothing warmth and light from the screen door as birds chirped and the morning dew dripped off the trees. Insects of all kinds fluttered their way around the garden and courtyards of the Haruno district. Slowly eyelids fluttered open to show the world bright emerald green eyes, brightness that was only viewable for a mere second when the girl awoke from the scheduled slumber. Lifting her self up into a sitting on the circular black bed, the girl stretched slightly and looked around her room for a small moment before she tossed her black covers off and drowsily walked to the bathroom to complete her morning routine; brush teeth, brush hair, have a shower, dry body, dry hair and put back into buns, change into ninja outfit, make bed and feed Guyver before grabbing an apple for herself to eat on the way to her training grounds. Checking her calendar before she left, the girl sighed grudgingly as soon as she learnt the date, White Day.

'_Damn! Whose bright idea was it to make up these holidays?'_ Sakura glared at her calendar. She still had chocolates, cards and bears from Valentines' Day a month ago, even though Valentine's was traditionally a day for _females_ to give chocolates to _males_, her fanboys as they called them selves had gone all out for her. Heck, she was trying to find a way to get rid of them efficiently. Glaring one last time at the calendar, the girl sighed before walking out of her house with a big bag in hand and towards her first training area, nothing special, it was just a plain field, perfect for practicing taijutsu, especially her chakra styled taijutsu.

* * *

Arriving at her the training area, the girl was shocked at what faced her, a mountain about half her size, maybe a little bigger of chocolates, cards, teddy bears, roses and were those cupid plushies? Damn they found her at this training area! Bloody stalkers! Glaring at the mound of presents, the girl pulled out that big bag and heaved each and every single gift into the bag before tying it up and going to her next training area, she couldn't train knowing that they had been here, heck if they knew she trained here, they could storm up to her at any moment whilst training…and fatal _accidents_ could occur.

* * *

The girl glared, she couldn't believe it! She had gone to every one of her training areas, and each one had a mountain of presents for her, each bigger than the last. Damn, now she'll have to find new training areas! Cursing, the girl heaved the gifts into the big bag, and carried them onto her shoulder, walking away from the training area and towards the bridge that Team Seven usually met at, remembering that Kakashi insisted that they meet today.

'_Damn, so many stalkers!'_ Sakura cursed arriving at the Team Seven Bridge where Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto and Sai were waiting for her.

"Sakura-chan! You're late!" Naruto cried running up to her, ignoring the _massive_ bag of god knows what on her back.

"Hello, Ugly. It's so nice of you to greet us with your presence an hour after Kakashi graced us with his presence" Sai sneered.

"Whatever" Sakura sighed "Okay what do you want?"

"Well, ignoring that you didn't get us something for Valentines' we each got you something for White Day" Kakashi smiled as he handed her a book shaped, pink wrapped present.

"Okay, add them to the bag" Sakura sighed, dropping the bag off her back and onto her side, allowing each guy to put their present in, heck even Sasuke got her something…although it looked rather forced, and he had a lot of trouble wrapping the gift too.

"My beautiful Cherry Blossom!" Lee cried as he ran up to the girl, hugging her instantly before being tossed off.

"Okay, what do you want?" Sakura glared, noting that Tenten and Neji were coming up behind Lee.

"Lee wanted to drop off his gift to you" Tenten answered.

"Alright, add it to the bag" Sakura sighed.

"To the bag?" Tenten questioned.

"Stupid fanboys or something giving me gifts" Sakura gritted her teeth in anger.

"My blossom, my present will exceed your expectations and you will love it! And even if you don't I know you will say you will love it because you got it from me" Lee proclaimed.

"Why would she say that when she hasn't received my present yet?" a new voice questioned. Turning around, Team Seven stared in shock, well the original members any way. It was Morino Idate, the guy who they helped in the Tea Country five years ago.

"You want to bet?!" Lee glared.

"I do!" Idate glared back, both with fire in their eyes.

"Okay, just give me your damn present" Sakura glared.

"Oh of course my Sakura-chan" Idate smiled as he pulled out five presents from his back pack, all covered in pink wrapping paper, with a variety of roses, plushies, cards and chocolates.

"Add it to the bag" Sakura sighed as Idate and Lee placed their gifts on the top of the gifts already inside.

"Oh, by the way, Sakura, Tsunade-sama wanted to see you" Neji said.

"Ok, thanks Hyuuga-san" Sakura nodded, heaving the gift bag onto her back and walking away towards the Hokage's office presumably, ignoring the mubles from Lee and Idate who were glaring at Neji since he had gotten a sign of acknowledgement from their blossom and they didn't.

* * *

"I can't believe it! That Sakura-bitch got a gift from _my_ Sasuke-sama!" Karin glared, watching Sasuke hand the girl a black wrapped gift.

"He's never given me anything!"

"She'll pay!"

* * *

"Ano, Tsunade, you called for me?" Sakura asked as she walked into the office after knocking and bowing.

"Yes" Tsunade nodded.

"What for?" Sakura asked.

"Can you please get rid of these gifts?" Tsunade sort of glared pointing to a mound the size of the girl opposite her.

"I don't believe it" Sakura muttered "Do you have a spare bag or something I could carry these in?" Sakura asked.

"I do, but after you've taken this lot, go to the hospital and get that lot please, it is causing quite a spectacle" Tsunade sighed as she handed the girl another bag for her to shove all the gifts into.

* * *

"What to do with them?" Sakura muttered as she glared at the three bags of gifts before her _'I should probably keep some, just my teams lot then'_ Sakura sighed and dived into the first bag, coming out with the gifts Sasuke, Sai, Kakashi and Naruto had given her and placing them in her kunai holster, considering they all fit aside Naruto's, Kakashi's and Sai's. Well…technically only Sasuke's fitted, but let's not get into detail here; in simple she carried the gifts separately.

* * *

"Sakura-chan!" Ino exclaimed as the pink haired girl passed the Yamanaka Flower shop. Turning around, Sakura suddenly thought of a brilliant idea "Some one's lucky today" Ino smirked.

"You could be even luckier" Sakura sneered.

"How?" Ino questioned.

"Please take these bags!" Sakura half pleaded.

"Nah! That's way too much chocolate and stuff for me, heck, too much chocolate for Hinata, Tenten and I" Ino snickered.

"Damn, well then I'm off, I have got to find a way to get rid these things" Sakura sighed.

* * *

"How to get rid of this stuff?" Sakura muttered. Currently she was sitting on the peer she was at a couple of months ago, where she tried to practice the 'Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu' which was proving quite difficult to her still, but she reckoned she was getting better. Suddenly, an idea struck!

"That's it!" Sakura exclaimed, running off the peer with bags in hand, the girl created a large crater in her first training area, tossed those blasted gifts in the crater, poured petrol, alcohol and oil over it. Heck she poured everything flammable over it. Running back to her house, she came back with four bags of gifts from the Valentines' affairs and added it to the pile, adding more flammable liquid to the concoction. Man she was brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Getting in the correct position, the girl performed the fire jutsu she had been practicing and blew out onto the pile of gifts, unfortunately only creating a small flame from the jutsu, which meant it would take a long time before it would blow up into ashes of their former self.

"Damn!" Sakura cursed.

"What exactly are you doing Sakura?" Sasuke questioned form behind her. Turning around, the girl was quite shocked when she found her entire team there, as well as Team 10, eight and Team Gai as well as Idate, standing behind her.

"I found a brilliant way to get rid of these blasted gifts!" Sakura smirked.

"But what about our gifts?!" Naruto cried.

"Oh, I kept my teams gifts, but the rest…well…" Sakura smirked "I wonder, how flammable do you think roses, cards, bears and chocolates are?" Sakura asked.

"B-but my gifts for you my cherry blossom!" Lee cried.

"I thought you loved me!" Idate cried.

"Did I ever say that?" Sakura questioned.

"But couldn't you have kept my present? Those chocolates were expensive" Idate wailed.

"I hate chocolates" Sakura muttered, turning back around, preparing another fire jutsu.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sakura exclaimed as she blew a bigger flame out of her mouth, sending the pile of gifts alight even more.

"Sakura-chan since when could you use that jutsu?" Naruto questioned.

"Err…not use well…but I taught it to myself a little while ago" Sakura answered.

"My gifts" Idate cried.

"My love" Lee sulked.

"Sakura-chan, I saw you almost twenty minutes ago, don't tell me you added four bags to that lot in that time" Ino frowned.

"No these were from Valentines" Sakura answered.

"You're flame still needs some work" Sasuke smirked.

"Shut up-" Suddenly without warning, a blob of red zoomed past Sakura's nose and glomped it self onto Sasuke.

"Sasuke-sama!" Karin cheered.

"What the hell?" Sasuke muttered, as he lifted his gaze from the ground to find Karin lying on top of him suggestively.

"Oh my, get a room Uchiha" Neji snickered.

"Shut it Hyuuga" Sasuke glared "Get off me Karin"

"Aww…but I was enjoying myself here" Karin whined as she grudgingly got off the Uchiha "Did you get me something for White Day Sasuke-sama?" Karin chirped.

"No" Sasuke answered.

"But you gave her something" Karin pouted and pointed to the pink haired girl who was amusing herself by lighting a match and tossing it into the bon fire of gifts, much to Lee and Idate's shock.

"She's my team mate" Sasuke answered, prying the red head off him.

"So was I" Karin whined, upset that Sasuke had just tossed her off him.

"I wonder, how flammable do you think humans are?" Ino asked Sakura.

"I don't know, have any idea Tenten?" Sakura smirked.

"Not a clue, Hinata, you're smart you should know" Tenten sneered.

"I-I wouldn't know, but if people have been burnt at the stake before…I would assume they could be flammable, with some oil on them or something" Hinata answered.

"You mean like in the Silent Hill Movie?" Sakura answered.

"You've seen that?! I totally freaked me out!" Ino exclaimed.

"Yea, it was a pretty good movie" Sakura nodded.

"So how flammable do you think a human is Neji-kun?" Tenten asked.

"I don't know why?" Neji asked, confused on what the girls were conversing about.

"Just wondering" Tenten smirked.

"Oi, Karin you want to be the first human to be burnt alive?" Sakura smirked "Or would you prefer dead?"

"Tch! Like you could kill me" Karin sneered, hugging Sasuke's arm tightly.

"Aww….never mind anyway, the bonfire of gifts is all burnt out" Sakura sighed when Guyver landed on Sakura's head.

"I hate that bird" Naruto glared at the hawk, who glared back.

"Oh, hey Guyver, what's up?" Sakura asked looking up to the bird, who flew off her head and basically pointed to the North.

"What again?" Sakura sighed "Alright, I'm going, Guyver wants to be fed" Sakura lied before running away from the group.

* * *

"Nice timing you have there Guyver" Sakura smirked as she began throwing kunai at random targetsm. The hawk seemed to nod in agreement as he watched his owner train casually for the day. Occasionally Guyver himself would take a kunai and throw it, well he did like to be in some missions occasionally as well, you know.

"You mean your bird flew in because you called it to?" Sasuke asked, appearing behind her.

"Well…not exactly" Sakura smirked, throwing five other kunai into various targets effortlessly.

"I'm curious, at how much better you have gotten over the years" Sasuke smirked.

"And?" Sakura questioned, pulling the kunai back out of the targets.

"How about a light sparring match, you against me?" Sasuke suggested.

"No thanks" Sakura shook her head boredly and walked away, Guyver flying above her head.

"It wasn't a request" Sasuke glared as he threw a kunai towards her which she dodged effortlessly by bending her neck to the left.

"Since when could a _chuunin_ order a _jounin_?" Sakura scoffed "Don't forget your place Sasuke" Sakura glared.

"You scared?" Sasuke mocked, trying to get her to fight him.

"Me? Scared of a guy who went to a snake pedophile for power and came back with a hair style that is similar to a chicken ass? Please" Sakura ridiculed.

"This coming from the girl who doesn't even know how to control her chakra as of late?" Sasuke jeered. Sakura glared at the boy, Guyver matching her glare and sending it straight to the youngest Uchiha who sent a glare, just as deadly, back to both of them.

"Fine, you want a little spar, you have got it" Sakura muttered "Guyver, go back to the house" Sakura ordered which the bird complied with as he flew away at incredible speeds.

"Weights off" Sasuke ordered.

"You could barely keep up with me on the way back from sound with my weights on, you have yet to prove to me you can catch up to me with them on so don't even think about it" Sakura scoffed.

"Don't underestimate your opponent Sakura" Sasuke growled.

"I'm not" Sakura smirked, before vanishing into thin air leaving a trail of cherry blossoms in her path. Cursing at his mistake, Sasuke activated his sharingan and also disappeared from his place in the forest as their kunai clashed, locking each other in place.

"I wonder, without that sharingan, would you last long in battle?" Sakura mocked. Sasuke glared- was she saying that he was weak? Growling in distaste, Sasuke pushed his weight off the girl, jumping further away from her, leaving a trail of fire in his path from his Katon jutsu. As the flames engulfed the pink haired jounin the distinct sound of the girl evaporating echoed through the forest; where she stood just seconds ago a puddle of water.

"When?" Sasuke muttered.

"Game over" Sakura seethed as she appeared behind him in mid air with a kunai to his neck.

"Not quite" Sasuke smirked as his form exploded into a cloud of smoke, a log in his place.

"I was wondering when you would use that jutsu" Sakura sneered with a bored look on her face.

"I don't underestimate you, can't you give me the decency and at least fight with me properly" Sasuke glared.

"You're not worthy of that honor" Sakura said.

"Me? Your closest _friend_?" Sasuke questioned, repeating what she had said years ago to him before he left the village.

_FLASH BACK…_

"_So I guess that means you're going right?" Sakura answered, noticing Sasuke take out a kunai "Don't bother Sasuke, I'm not here to fight you, I came from training, and nothing else. I will let you pass" _

"_Then move aside" Sasuke said._

"_Just listen to me for a moment" Sakura pleaded._

"_Fine" Sasuke sighed irritably._

"_I know you are going, and right now I could stop you if I wanted to, however, I won't. I'd presume that after people have found you left, they will be after you and as a chuunin, I will most likely be one of the shinobi who come after you, however I am not going to do anything to stop you from going" Sakura announced._

"_Why?" Sasuke asked, shocked at her declaration._

"_Because your revenge is what you have been living for, then I will let you do that, I know what it's like to chase after an ambition, I will not stop you from gaining power. I would guess they'd do a lot of rescue missions to get you, but I promise on my life, that if I am sent with a troop I will only stop the people around you, not you" Sakura declared._

"_But why?" Sasuke questioned, not understanding the girl._

"_Because you are my closest friend in the village here since I came back" Sakura answered, hugging the boy from the front "You seem to be the only one I have let get close to me, after time, Naruto and Kakashi are close…but I have told you things that I probably would have never told you before" Sakura muttered "And as a friend of yours, I want you to do the best you can do"_

…_END FLASH BACK_

"I severed any friendships I had when we were younger; you and I are merely colleagues as shinobi" Sakura commented.

'_That kinda hurt' _Sasuke inwardly winced at what she said, an underlying cold tone in her voice.

"Colleagues?" Sasuke questioned.

"And nothing more" Sakura glared, waiting for him to initiate his next move. Glaring back at the girl with as much force, Sasuke disappeared from sight and began to attack her with an onslaught of attacks ranging from mere weapon jutsus to his fire jutsus, heck he was even tempted to use his Chidori a few times since each time he used his fire jutsus she would dispel them unconsciously or not, which was starting to piss him off; but the thing that pissed him off the most was the plain look plastered on the girl's face which was practically screaming bored as she dodged his attacks effortlessly, she wasn't taking him seriously and that's what had pissed him off the most. Sure he had seen the look adorning her features often when he had missions with her, figuring that she didn't take mere newly graduated _genin_ seriously enough and bored with the fights, but giving him that same look was so unforgivable and angering, it frustrated and annoyed him deeply.

"Well is that it?" Sakura questioned, the only hit he managed to hit was a slight scratch on her cheek from his shuriken, but that was it, which he found quite irritating.

"Take me seriously!" Sasuke growled, throwing another onslaught of kunai towards her, which she dodged effortlessly by jumping up into the sky.

"You want serious? I'll give you serious" Sakura glared, plummeting with her head first, fist drawn as she sent her chakra-infused fist into the ground, creating a small crater, just missing the Uchiha, before another wave of chakra was sent coursing through the ground, creating cracks of all sized through the earth.

"Is that it?" Sasuke taunted, repeating what she had said only moments ago. Glaring at the Uchiha, Sakura performed a quick hand seal motion, bringing the seal of the tiger in her hands to her mouth and breathing out fire.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sakura shouted as flames, tiny ones, but flames came bursting out of her mouth before a big explosion of flames swallowed the surrounding area as she was pushed back from the force of the explosion into a near by tree. Looking up from her position in the ground, Sakura stared wide eyed as flames continued to burn the vegetation surrounding the two. Cursing at her self for her stupidity, she willed her chakra through her arm, and as if she knew what she was doing, directed the flames to extinguish them selves as she pulled them closer to her and away from the trees into a small ball in her palm before she clenched her fist and the flames dispersed. Glancing at her hand, she continued to glare at it, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with her power as of late, and how the hell she did that.

"Now you can't tell me you don't know how you did that because that'd be a load of bull" Sasuke commented walking up to her, inspecting her hand for any damage to find none, half expecting third degree burns to be imprinted and etched into her skin.

"…" Sakura made no comment, she had none, she had no idea of what was happening, and how she did it, it just happened.

"Now, tell me, what's the name of this kekkei genkai of yours?" Sasuke asked, glaring at her. Looking up at him with a shocked face, the girl was speechless as she fell to the ground, trying to register what Sasuke had just said.

'_Kekkei Genkai?'_

'_**Then we were right'**_

'…'

"Nani?" Sakura muttered, staring at her hands even deeper than she had before.

"I couldn't copy your technique at all, so it has to be a kekkei genkai, so fess up, what's it called" Sasuke ordered.

"No, no, no, no" Sakura kept muttered to her self "I-I-I-I-I don't know" Sakura stuttered quietly before she punched the ground around her, sending Sasuke off balancing while she fled for her life.

* * *

Fourteen days; fourteen days since White Day; fourteen days since her 'little spar' with Sasuke; fourteen days since she had confirmation from the sharingan wielder him self that her ability was in fact the Haruno Kekkei Genkai, an ability she had no idea of how to control nor what it was, now fourteen days later was the day she seemed to dread every year, the day that she at times she wished would never draw nearer and nearer, but now, sixteen years since she was born to the day, eleven years since her clan was slaughtered before her eyes to the day was her birthday and the eleven year anniversary of her family's death. The only positive thing about this seemed to be that the inner mind in her had decided to make her presence unknown for the day, as Sakura silently mourned the loss of her family every year.

Beginning her annual tradition, the night before, the girl set out her formal funeral outfit, planning every detail, this year, she was planning on wearing a black and white long sleeved kimono styled top and a full length black skirt which had slits running up both legs, revealing another just as lengthy skirt which fell a few centimetres passed the skirt on top of it. On the top of both skirts was a long black and white scarf which ended mid shin in a point with a cherry blossom imprinted at the bottom. Over the top of the plain outfit, the girl had a big over coat which fell to just past her knees and over her hands by roughly a foot length. Adorning the rim of the black plain coat was a white trimming with a light pink sakura petal pattern decorating the plain attire. Hiding under the lengthy sleeves of the over coat and kimono sleeves were black gloves which reached her upper arms like her usual ninja attire gloves. Her hair was to be in it's usual buns, however half of her lose hair was going to be loosely clipped to the bun and decorated with a big ornamental flower, hanging off her hear lobes were long black earrings and around her neck was her collar.

Sighing to her self, Sakura kept the clothing on their hangers, putting them on her door and feel asleep, the next morning, March 28th; Sakura quickly changed into her ninja attire and ran to the Yamanaka flower shop, slightly surprised that it was open at this hour, but Sakura could care less as she walked around the shop collecting the flowers she would always get on this day. Eight white roses, four red roses and two cherry blossom twigs, making sure the flowers were in full bloom of course, not to mention fresh.

Yawning tiredly, Ino walked out of the back room, slightly surprised to see Sakura there that early in the morning but was expecting her to come in none-the-less. Going to the counter groggily, Ino sat on the stool and waited for Sakura to bring her desired flowers to her. Much to her distaste, the flowers the cherry blossom had picked were the same, white roses, red roses and cherry blossoms, in the blonde's opinion, the colours clashed too much and needed something else to make it look like a proper bouquet.

"You know, Sakura-chan, you always get the same flowers this time of year, you should really try to put something else into your chosen bouquet" Ino sighed as Sakura handed Ino the flowers.

"Your job as a person at the register is to get me to pay for my chosen product, do not sell more to me if I have not picked it" Sakura said coldly, paying the correct amount for the flowers and heading out.

"I just meant you should add something to them" Ino growled "It's such an ugly bouquet!"

"You obviously know nothing of symbolism" Sakura scoffed, walking out of the small flower shop and back to the Haruno district.

* * *

Setting the flowers down on her desk, the girl grabbed her earlier prepared attire and quickly changed from her ninja one to the one she was going to wear to the Haruno graveyard to pay her respects to the deceased clan. Making sure everything was in place for her outfit and hair, the girl did a last check to make sure everything was spotless in the house and that Guyver was fed before taking the bouquet and disappearing in a cloud of smoke, reappearing in front of a blank field.

* * *

"Ohayou Sakura-chan-" A voice screamed, before pausing, realizing the said person was no where in sight _'Damn he's here'_ Sasuke cursed inwardly, trying to ignore the loud ninja running towards him and the team seven replacement opposite him _'It seems odd that she's not here yet'_ Sasuke thought, glancing around at his team mates, taking note that their pink haired kunoichi team mate was no where to be seen.

"Oi, Sasuke-teme, where is Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the Uchiha.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted, as if to say he really didn't give a damn, when in reality, his head was racing at a million miles an hour to try and find a logical reason behind Sakura's tardiness.

"Hmph! You're so heartless" Naruto grumbled childishly before turning his attention to Sai "Oi, Sai-teme, where is Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, not knowing Sasuke was actually listening to their conversation.

"I don't know Dickless" Sai shrugged.

"What?!!?!?!?" Naruto exclaimed.

"You heard me" Sai sighed "You should know by now she's never here on this date" Sai grunted.

"On this date?" Naruto questioned while Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow, she was never around on this date? What was so special about today?

"Just so you know what is going on _Traitor_, Ugly is never around on this day for one reason or another and people can never find her" Sai spoke.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted, leaning back on the bridge post, ignoring the hidden comment about him being a traitor.

"Oh yea, that's right" Naruto chirped, slightly randomly as he went to his place on the bridge and waited for Kakashi to arrive, even if they technically didn't have the student-teacher bond, they liked to meet of a morning and train together.

* * *

To the naked eye, it was a blank field, but to the one who had been there numerous times, the blank field was a mere cover up for one of the largest graveyards in Konoha, hidden Village in the leaves. Making sure the flowers were still in her grasp, Sakura brought her hands up into the seal of the dragon, channeling chakra into her palms. Concentrating for a mere moment, Sakura eyes opened fiercely as she undid the genjutsu on the field. Slowly one by one each tombstone reveal them selves, starting with the family members at the back, who were at one stage the branch members of the Haruno clan, before leading into the family members who were closer to the main house, before finally revealing the last two members, her mother and father, their tomb stones before her eyes and before her feet.

'_And there goes another year, another year of solitude'_ Sakura commented inwardly as a light breeze picked up random strands of pink hair. Gazing to the furthest tomb stone and back, Sakura said her silent prayer and paid her respect, gently placing the flowers in between the tomb stones of her mother and father. Glancing back up at the further tomb stones, the blossom took note of the various cherry blossom trees that surrounded this grace yard, making it one or less one of the brighter grave yards Sakura had seen in her time. Condoling, her self quietly the blossom turned her attention to the sky, enjoying the quiet solitude of the peaceful graveyard.

* * *

"Yo" Kakashi smiled, waving to his former students from on top of the bridge, looking down on them.

"You're EARLY!!!!" Naruto shouted pointing an accusing finger towards the man.

"I had to help…wait, I'm early?" Kakashi questioned.

"Yea" Sasuke muttered.

"What's up?" Sai raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Tsunade-sama called us to her office" Kakashi answered.

"Hai" they nodded, making their way to the presumably drunk, blonde Hokage.

* * *

Turning her attention on the trees which seemed to be directly in front of her, Sakura noticed something peculiar about one of the branches; one of the branches seemed to be pointing to her, as if it were a hand. Rubbing her eyes and blinking to make sure she had seen the branch right, the checked it again, some what puzzled on how the branch looked, remembering that the last time she was here, there were no branches like that. The branch seemed to continue to point towards the girl, but the branch seemed to be pointing to something behind her. Complying with the branch the girl slowly turned around, in the direction of the pointing branch, drawing out her well hidden kunai, just in case. Upon turning around, Sakura's eyes grew wide as her weapon clattered onto the tomb stone now behind her, staring at something she thought she would never see again.

* * *

"Hello baa-chan" Naruto greeted, barging into her office without bothering to knock, Sasuke and Sai right behind him carelessly while Kakashi sweatdropped, watching the woman stumble around her office, making her look busy instead of drunk and asleep…what a Hokage…

"You called Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi questioned.

"Hmm…Oh right, yes...wait where's Sakura-chan?" Tsunade frowned.

"Hokage-sama, you should know by now she can never be found on this day" Sai sighed.

"Today's is that day eh?" Tsunade pondered "Well go and find her then report back here, I have a mission for you" Tsunade ordered.

"Why not just give us the mission?" Kakashi questioned.

"It's an A-ranked mission-"

"Then why do we need her?" Sasuke questioned.

"Because she's a medic" Tsunade answered.

"Then get another medic" Kakashi suggested.

"The last time I suggested that and went through with that plan, you refused to let the medic heal you, saying they were incompetent" Tsunade glared at the four males.

"No we didn't" Naruto scoffed.

"Need I get out the mission reports from the medic of your previous missions?" Tsunade threatened.

"Fine, we get the point, we don't like other medics, aren't most missions just simple escort missions anyway?" Sasuke questioned.

"Just go find her" Tsunade sighed in frustration.

"Hai" they all sighed as they left the office.

"Shizune I need sake!" Tsunade called out.

"Hai" a woman called back, inwardly sighing.

* * *

Turning around, Sakura was shocked, her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped to the ground, gaping at the things before her…well things isn't really the correct terminology, the correct word would be _humans_, but these people seemed see-through, like a memory of the girl. In front of here were two people, one a woman, the other a man. The woman wore a smile gracing her beautiful features. She had silky, long brown hair which was braided into two plaits either side of her head with two others which were rolled into buns on top of her hair with flowers decorating the brown locks and blue eyes and was wearing her favourite kimono. A long, white and pink kimono that had red dragons sewn onto the sleeves while green leaves circled them.

The man, had long hair, but kept it to his lower back, and like Sasuke he had handsome features. Gorgeous emerald green orbs much like her own and long black hair. He was wearing a long blue coat which reached his knees presumably over various layers of different material for the traditional male yukata. Like the woman, his had two red dragons on the sleeves with green leaves surrounding it, but on the hemming of the bottom layer were white kimonos. They were standing proud and tall, they were smiling, as if proud at what she achieved. These people, the blossom never would have thought that in her wildest dreams that she would come across the people once again, let alone in broad day light for people to see.

"Otou-sama, Okaa-sama" Sakura gaped, staring at the two proud Harunos standing before her. Her legs finally giving way as she fell to her bottom, still gaping at her deceased parents, though it looked like they hadn't aged a day since she had seen them before the untimely death.

* * *

"Where do you think she could be?" Naruto questioned through the two-way on his ear.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted, a translation to this could be easily deciphered as 'I don't know…dobe'.

"I don't know Dickless, you know it's like she can never be found on this day" Sai answered.

"It can't be that hard guys, I mean we have the strongest here looking for a girl with pink hair, it can't be that hard" Kakashi commented.

"You forget she's an expert on hiding" Sai said annoyed.

"Think of this as training" Kakashi encouraged. To this the three younger shinobi made no comment.

* * *

"So you do remember us" the woman commented, if Sakura remembered what her father called her, her name was Sakumo.

"Stop gaping, we taught you better than that" her father scoffed, his name being Hikaru. Shuffling to her feet hastily, the girl continued to stare at her parents which were supposed to be dead.

Slowly both of her parents advanced towards her, making the grass rustle as they moved walked towards her.

'_This can't be real! It has to be a genjutsu!'_ Sakura stared in shock as her hands moved into the seal of the tiger "Kai!" she exclaimed and looked to where her parents were; they were still there, walking towards her.

"Kai" Sakura exclaimed again. Nothing happened.

"Kai"

"Kai"

"Kai" Sakura kept repeating, and still these illusions had yet to go any where.

"That's enough Sakura-chan" her mother smiled.

"T-this i-is a dream! It has to be" Sakura muttered as she began pinching her cheek continuously, shocked that she obviously wasn't waking up.

"It's not" Hikaru said.

"N-no, y-you're d-dead!" Sakura stuttered.

"No shit!" her father bellowed.

"W-what are you doing here?!" Sakura exclaimed, walking back towards the tomb stone.

"To give you something" a new voice smiled. Ahead of her was her grandfather, wearing the traditional Haruno main house male elders' attire. A plain white Yukata with various coloured layers underneath. His hair like her mother and father was long, but his was white, an obvious sign of old age, aside the wrinkles.

"O-oji-sama" Sakura muttered wide-eyed.

"Now I'm really confused" Sakura grumbled. Suddenly pain shot through her system, forcing her to fall to the ground "Damn!" Sakura gasped.

'_**Before you even say it, it's not me! And please tell me what I'm seeing is a genjutsu!'**_

'_I already checked, it's not, and it's not a dream! I've tried waking myself up!'_

Slowly, Sakura's eyes widened in realization, before closing as the girl stood up and glared at the three figures in front of her.

"If you have something you need; then do it, I'm wasting time here" Sakura said.

"Such rudeness!" the grandfather shook his head in disgust.

"Sakura! I never taught you to yell at your elders!" Hikaru growled.

"You're right, you taught me jack shit!" Sakura glared, recounting the total amount of times her father had taught her something.

"How dare you speak to your father like that!" Sakumo shouted.

"Pft, some father he was" Sakura scoffed "If you wanted to give me something, then hurry it up, I haven't got all day"

"What happened to the little girl I raised?" her father frowned, slightly concerned.

"That girl disappeared a long time ago, well if you're done here, good bye" Sakura muttered, walking away from them the graveyard, planning to take a nice long hot bath to recall what the hell was going on.

"Don't you dare turn your back to me!" her father shouted, as he and her mother ran after the girl.

"Pft!" Sakura grunted.

"Your brother and sister weren't like this!" her father growled.

"You're right, they turned out to be absolutely perfect, so perfect they abandoned me in Suna and became missing Nins" Sakura scoffed, turning around, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Why are you acting this way?" her mother questioned, sad that her youngest turned out so bitter.

"Who said I was acting?" Sakura muttered.

"What happened to my little girl?" her mother cried.

"I told you, she went a long time ago" Sakura muttered.

"We realize that now" Hikaru scoffed.

"I have gone officially insane…why the hell are you here? I have much more important things to be doing" Sakura glared.

"Such rudeness" her grand father shook his head in distaste.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Sakura questioned rudely.

"Please, Sakura-chan, we don't have much time, here" Sakumo pleaded.

"Then what is it you want?" Sakura asked as kindly as she could through gritted teeth.

"Haven't you been questioning why your chakra has been all over the place?" Hikaru asked. Sakura remained quite, beckoning him to continue.

"I take that as a yes" her grand father chuckled.

"I already figured it out" Sakura said, noting that a slight breeze was starting to pick up.

"You have always been a smart little girl haven't you" her father chuckled.

"Then, if you know what it is, tell us" her grand father asked.

"It's the Haruno family kekkei genkai" Sakura answered.

"How can you be sure?" Sakumo questioned.

"I had conformation from an Uchiha him self, not to mention numerous scrolls which state other wise to what I have been performing" Sakura answered.

"An Uchiha?" Hikaru questioned, slightly liking the sound that she had associated her self with the younger Uchiha.

"That's what I said" Sakura replied.

"Then, why have you not mastered it yet?" her grand father questioned.

"I only discovered it about two months ago, I have no clue of what I am doing myself, I just know it's a kekkei genkai, I presume the chest the Third left me has what I need" Sakura shrugged carelessly.

"Always a book type person" Hikaru sighed.

"I would have tried it out hands on had I _known_ about what it was" Sakura glared "Now, you wanted to tell me something about the family I presume since you brought the kekkei genkai topic up?" Sakura questioned.

"You learnt everything that we wanted to tell you" her grand father sighed.

"Then, if you'll excuse me, I have a key to find" Sakura grunted.

"A key?" her mother questioned.

"You heard me" Sakura muttered, walking away from the three…ghosts.

"What does it look like?" Hikaru asked.

"Sakura blossom I would presume" Sakura replied, stopping for a moment and continuing to walk away. Suddenly all three…err…beings…laughed at the girl.

"What now?" Sakura asked irritably.

"It's just…"

"We have that final piece you need" her grandfather answered. Sakura paused in mid step.

"You were clever enough to learn that you had to find the key pieces in different places of the family house, but even a novice could tell you needed something to put it all together" her father explained.

"I'm not stupid" Sakura glared.

"I never said you were" her father sighed, some how knowing his last comment would be taken as an insult to his daughter, who felt great anger towards them. She had changed from that little five year old girl he had left on the earth, she was confident, emotionless, not afraid, but even with that front up, he could see the fear in her eyes, the need to cry, the want to run away, but something in her seemed to stop her.

"This final piece once with the other pieces will unlock the chest, containing any family secrets you will have to carry on" Sakumo smiled.

"Whatever" Sakura muttered "However, why do you, some one who is _dead_, have what I am looking for?" Sakura questioned.

"Don't ask questions, just take it" her mother encouraged as her father held out a long key piece that looked like it could be thread through the blossom pieces. Taking the piece, Sakura gazed it, glaring at it at how annoying this thing was to find. Suddenly bird's wings flapped as Guyver came flying out of the house and to the cherry blossom landing on her head.

"Who's the bird?" Hikaru her father glared at how long the talons were on the hawk.

"This is my hawk, Guyver, quite an excellent hawk at that too, especially on missions" Sakura explained.

"Missions?" her mother asked confused.

"I do a lot of solo missions, Guyver provides excellent company and back up" Sakura answered.

"Solo missions? Isn't that a bit much for a girl of your age?" her father questioned.

"Another person to undermine me eh?" Sakura glared "Well this was such a _lovely_ reunion and all but, now I have to say fuck off" Sakura muttered, at that moment, though her parents seemed to be growling at the amount of disrespect she had just held for her parents, she couldn't hear it as her world suddenly turned black, sending her into a world of unconsciousness, the last thing she remembered hearing was "Happy Birthday my dear Sakura-chan" from her father before everything turned black completely.

* * *

"I give up!" Naruto exclaimed as he fell onto the bridge before his team mates.

"So do I" Sai sighed.

"How can she be so hard to find?" Kakashi whined.

"I haven't got any idea" Sasuke muttered, reluctantly admitting that he had given up looking for the girl after the four males had searched the town five times.

* * *

Alerted that its owner just fell to the ground unconscious, Guyver released its hold from Sakura's head and flew down to Sakura's level on the ground, nuzzling against her face to try and get her to wake up. Nothing happened as Guyver's soft feathers caressed Sakura's pale cheek. Worried that his own made no movement, he pecked her lightly on the arm, hoping that she would wake up, but failed as the girl made no movement to the hawk's actions. Seemingly to be cursing at the girl's unconsciousness, Guyver flew in circles above the grave yard before flying off into the distance.

* * *

"What are we supposed to do now?" Naruto asked, picking him self up and leaning on the bridge railing.

"It's either we accept another medic Nin or Tsunade-sama gives some one else the mission" Kakashi sighed.

"I don't like either option" Naruto pouted.

"Let's just go home then" Sai suggested.

"Good idea! Ramen here I come!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran towards the Ichiraku ramen stall.

"Ja" Sai and Kakashi smiled before disappearing into clouds of smoke.

"Hn" Sasuke muttered as he walked away from the bridge. Suddenly a hawk came soaring down to Sasuke, as if beckoning him to go some where. _'Isn't that Sakura's hawk?'_ Sasuke wondered, watching the hawk flap its long wings agitatedly.

"Aren't you Sakura's hawk?" Sasuke asked. The hawk seemed to nod, but that might have just been a twitch of its head.

"Where's Sakura?" Sasuke asked, slightly concerned that the hawk was flying around with out its owner. At the question the bird seemed to beckon Sasuke to follow him, pulling on his high colour by the talons.

"Is she in trouble?" Sasuke questioned as the bird continued to drag him, the bird seemed to flap harder.

"Show me where she is" Sasuke ordered before the bird released his hold off him and began flying back into the direction he came in.

* * *

Running closely behind the bird, Sasuke took note of the way he was heading, noticing the amount of vegetation that he was going through, which lead him to believe she was training and got seriously injured. As the hawk continued to flap its broad wings his speed continued to get faster and faster, hoping that Sasuke could catch up with him. In a matter of minutes both man and hawk came to a sudden stop, the man not expecting a large blank field to be here in the middle of no where. Confused at why the bird took him here of all places, he looked up at the bird to find it circling just in front of him, as if pointing to where Sakura was, the only problem with that is that he could see her. Angered the bird was giving him false hopes, he glared at the feathered mammal.

"Where is she?" Sasuke seethed. The bird continued to point into one spot, angering him further.

"There is nothing there, why did you take me to a blank field?" Sasuke growled. Again the bird pointed to one stop, this time, nuzzling the spot and pecking at it, noticing how the feathers seemed to compact when Guyver nuzzled into something, Sasuke turned on his sharingan, suspecting that he was caught into a genjutsu. Upon opening his eyes and wielding chakra into them, Sasuke's eyes grew wide at the sight before him. Tomb stones, yards and yards of tomb stones, all of one clan he believed after reading a decay inscriptions on each stone, of the Haruno clan.

But what caught his attention the most was the blossom that lay on one of the tomb stones, unconscious, in one of the most elegant things he had seen her wear, _ever_. Had the pink hair not been there, Sasuke could have easily mistaken the girl for a woman in her thirties or so, mourning over loved ones or friends, if he remembered correctly, today was the day they had all passed onto the world of the dead, this _was_ supposed to be kept a secret…but with his dad on the police force at the time…news eventually leaked.

The attire made her look mature and _old_ in a way, not to mention the thickness of the material, wasn't it too hot to be wearing such clothes on a day like this? But even with the _different_ attire, he thought she look absolutely beautiful, part of her hair was clipped back to the slightly loosened buns with a big ornamental flower on each side of her hair was decoration, hanging off her ears were long, elegant earrings, Sasuke had his suspicions on how heavy they were on her ears. Had he not been the observant person he was, he would have missed the big round circle sewn onto the back of the big black clock that she wore, and if had remembered correctly, that symbol was for the Haruno clan as well, which arose many suspicions about the girl. In simple though, right there and then, she looked elegant, she looked beautiful, she looked magnificent. Like that girl he had seen all those years ago before he left Konoha.

_FLASH BACK…_

'_Itachi's right, there is no difference between us in strength even though time has passed' Sasuke glared out at the window before averting his gaze to the side where a bouquet of roses stood up right in a vase, checking the tag, Sasuke some how knew it was Ino and sighed; tossing away the flowers into the bin; for some reason he had hoped Sakura had brought him the roses, it was odd he admitted to want to receive something from his pink haired team mate. Lifting up the flower vase to put it away, Sasuke was confronted with a small piece of paper, hiding underneath with his name on the top of it._

'_Dear Sasuke, _

_I know maybe I should give you something more than this letter, like maybe some roses or something, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Had I not been captured by your brother and used as a hostage, I'm sure you would have been able to complete half of your ambition and get your revenge. I really am sorry; I hope you'll forgive a burden like me._

_Sakura'_

'_Sakura thought she was a burden?' Sasuke muttered as he read the note over and over again; as if checking to make sure Sakura had wrote it, to make sure he read correctly. He did read correctly, his ever confident, strong team mate was considering her self the burden when he fought his brother. Yes he did stop his attack because she was held hostage and had a kunai to her neck; which he wasn't expecting, but she got out of her own predicament without much hassling from any of her team mates. She reckons that first blow could have been a hit if she wasn't there but even if she wasn't Itachi would have used Naruto has a hostage, and he would have still not hit Itachi. Who knew the best genjutsu user he knew was so blind at times?_

_Crumpling the note into his pocket, Sasuke stalked out of the room and headed towards the Ichiraku Ramen stand where Naruto and the rest were about to begin dinner. Glancing to the side of the hospital, though he wasn't totally sure who it was, Sasuke saw a girl on the top of the hill next to the oldest cherry blossom tree with her palm on it as she watch the sun set, with her long locks released as they swayed with the constant breeze. If he didn't know any better he would have thought that to be Sakura, because the person had pink hair, but that could just be a play his imagination from the sun set. But in his mind, she was absolutely beautiful, who ever that girl was._

…_END FLASH BACK_

It seemed odd that she would be here out of all places.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke muttered as he picked up the seemingly fragile girl effortlessly and walked away from the Haruno grave yard, noticing how light she actually was. Taking another note of how he got there, he took her to the only place he thought would be appropriate; the Hokage's office. Looking down to her face, Sasuke noticed something knew adorning her features, aside the tense-ness and stressed released from her being, around her neck was a necklace holding a pendant, a long, slightly key shaped pendant, Sasuke wondering if that pendant was the key she was talking about a while ago.

* * *

"Knock, knock"

"Who is it?" Tsunade's voice asked from inside the office.

"Uchiha Sasuke" Sasuke answered.

"Come in" Tsunade seemed to sigh in relief. Nodding in agreement, Sasuke turned the knob and opened the once closed door, the blossom still in his arms.

"What is it you-" Tsunade began to ask before she stopped in mid sentence looking at the pink, black and white bundle in the Uchiha's arms, and Guyver flapping above him; concerned about his owner "You found her" Tsunade stated, though it was rather obvious. Biting back his comment, Sasuke remained quiet.

"Well, now your team can go on that mission" Tsunade smiled.

"Hn" Sasuke nodded.

"Where did you find her?" Tsunade asked.

"I'm not too sure but all I know for sure is that she was in a grave yard" Sasuke answered, sitting down on one of the chairs.

"Graveyard?" Tsunade questioned. Sasuke nodded.

"That's impossible, every where was checked the previous years, and she was not found in any graveyard" Tsunade scoffed.

"That's because she was in a secluded graveyard, which was under a genjutsu" Sasuke commented.

"You mean she was in _that_ graveyard?!" Tsunade bellowed.

"What do you mean by _that_ grave yard?" Sasuke raised a questioning eyebrow.

"If the grave yard you speak of, is the one I'm thinking of, then was in the grave yard of the Haruno clan, the grave yard, apparently has a genjutsu over it, a genjutsu so powerful, no one in the village can break it. No one actually knows the location of this grave yard, but apparently any one who does stumble across it, by accident or not, is put into an eternal slumber or sees images that are so inhumane it's scary to think who created the genjutsu" Tsunade explained.

"It didn't seem she was affected by the images or eternal slumber" Sasuke commented.

"But how did you find her?" Tsunade questioned.

"Her bird made me follow him and he took me to her" Sasuke answered.

"Guyver has always been a well trained bird" Tsunade commented "But it would have been impossible, without the sharingan to come out of that genjutsu unaffected, when she wakes up, bring her back here, she has some explaining to do, she's under your care for tonight" Tsunade ordered.

"Hai Tsunade-sama" Sasuke nodded.

"By the way, I hope for your sake you have some dead mice or rodents around your house" Tsunade commented.

"Why?" Sasuke questioned.

"I would presume that Guyver will follow you since you have Sakura, and let's just say, if it doesn't have a…_bloody_ meal, he gets very agitated" Tsunade smirked, slightly pitying him.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted emotionlessly as he exited the office with Guyver on his trail.

* * *

"How can she not be hot in that?" Sasuke wondered as he set the girl down on his bed in the Uchiha district.

"You have one weird owner there" Sasuke muttered looking towards the bird who had decided to settle on his shoulder. At the comment the bird seemed to glare and his talons seemed to clench into Sasuke's skin.

"Okay, okay, I take it back!" Sasuke flinched at the pain of the talons digging into him; slowly the talons seemed to release the hold on him, much to his relief.

"Do you think she'd be angry with me if I took the coat off her?" Sasuke asked; the bird seemed to shrug carelessly.

"Right" Sasuke muttered, wondering how Sakura understood the bird on a daily basis, lifting her into a sitting position to take her over coat off. Slipping the black material off her form, Sasuke was slightly shocked to find that she was wearing a long sleeved kimono top underneath the already thick over coat. Hanging the coat on a near by chair, the boy watched the girl sleep quietly, not at all affected by the thick clothing she was wearing.

* * *

Sunlight poured onto the girl in the dark room, heating up the usually cold room, opposite her was a young man, also sleeping soundlessly, enjoying the extra warmth of his bed that wasn't usually there of a morning. Outside, birds were chirping their morning tune as butterflies sailed in the breeze. Eventually his eyes blinked opened as his body awoke from the some what deep slumber, taking note that Sakura was still asleep, he snuck out of the bed and got ready for the day.

As the hours continued into early morning, closed eyes fluttered open as the pink haired blossom awoke from her deep slumber. Taking in her surroundings, stared in confusion realizing that where ever she was, wasn't some where she was normally. Sure it was dark like her room, dull like her room, heck even in the Japanese styled room like hers with wooden floor boards and screen doors, but Sakura knew it wasn't hers. It took a long minute before the girl realized something was off.

'_Hold on…'_

Instantly the girl bolted up from her place on the bed and landed in an awkward standing position next to the bed, landing with a relatively loud thump.

"I didn't leave the grounds" Sakura muttered to her self, becoming more and more suspicious about her surroundings, thanking that she still had her gown on from the day before. Looking around the room, she found nothing suspicious or anything that stood out to her, the room wasn't anything special, a bed with black covers, a desk, a chair with her coat on it with the flowers she had in her hair on the desk, lamps on the bedside tables and a door to the room, behind her was a full length window.

"Where the hell am I?" Sakura muttered, as she looked around the room for any indication of where she was. Suddenly the sound of a door sliding sounded through the girl's ears as she turned towards the location of the sound, the door. Glaring at the door, she moved into a fighting stance, pulling out her other hidden kunai, it seemed who ever took her where ever she was, was coming back and neglected to notice that she had weapons on her still. Slowly the door slid open to reveal a bored looking Sasuke walk into the room, wearing his ninja attire, on his shoulder was Guyver. Recognizing him, Sakura kept her kunai in her hold as she scrutinized the young Uchiha.

"I see you're awake" Sasuke noted, wondering why she was in a fighting stance.

"Where am I?" Sakura glared.

"My house, so drop the kunai" Sasuke threatened. Glaring at the young man, Sakura released her hold on the kunai, allowing it to clatter onto the floor.

"What am I doing here?" Sakura glared.

"What's with the hostilities?" Sasuke questioned.

"Answer the question" Sakura ordered.

"Tsunade said you were under my care for the night since you were unconscious and we didn't know where you live" Sasuke answered.

"Then why not just shove me in a hospital or something?" Sakura questioned, walking over to her coat and slipping it onto her form as Guyver flew over to her and nuzzled into her cheek.

"Because she wanted me to inform you are to go to Tsunade-sama's office immediately after you wake up" Sasuke replied.

"Whatever" Sakura muttered, walking out of the room, before being stopped by Sasuke.

"Why were you at that graveyard yesterday?" Sasuke questioned.

"What I do in my life is none of your concern" Sakura glared.

"…" Sasuke made no comment as he watched the girl walk away from him, and presumably to Tsunade's office.

* * *

"You wanted to see?" Sakura questioned, walking into her office after knocking, wearing her usual ninja attire.

"Ah, Sakura, so glad you could make it" Tsunade smirked evilly.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked.

"You have some questions to answer, and if you don't answer them, you will regret it" Tsunade announced.

"Morino-san you may come in now" Tsunade called out, instantly the door opened as the said man walked into the room, bowing at the woman.

"I have nothing to say to you people" Sakura glared with venom.

"Oh, but you do" Tsunade sneered.

"Sakura-chan, please tell us what we need to know" a new voice pleaded. Turning around, Sakura sent a glare towards her team that was sitting behind her, slightly bored.

"And what would it be that you need to know?" Sakura questioned, crossing her arms, slightly bored.

"Those questions will be answered with me" Ibiki proclaimed.

"I have nothing to say to any one of you" Sakura repeated "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have got training to go to" Sakura muttered, about to walk out of the room.

"You aren't going any where Sakura" Kakashi bellowed as he blocked the girl's path, the other team mates surrounding her.

"You WILL answer Morino-san's questions" Tsunade ordered.

"Whatever" Sakura muttered _'But you'll regret it sooner or later when I become the first human time bomb'_ she added inwardly.

"Follow me Sakura-san" Ibiki ordered, without complaint the girl followed him down the many halls to the interrogation rooms. Opening up the third interrogation room, both walked into the dark room, the only lighting being the lighting hanging above that flickered occasionally.

'_How ironic, I'm back in this room again'_ Sakura thought sitting down on the chair she sat on eleven years ago, as Ibiki sat opposite her. On the table was a file, presumably hers and a tape recorder.

"Name" Ibiki ordered.

"Sakura" Sakura answered.

"Full name" Ibiki growled.

"You have my file there, check it for your self" Sakura sneered, crossing her arms and leaning back onto the chair, getting comfortable; outside the dark room she could feel her team watching.

"It only has you first name" Ibiki said.

"I know" Sakura smirked.

"I wanted you _full_ name" Ibiki glared.

"Oh come now, we've been through this before, you should know it" Sakura replied, hinting at the last time she and him were in the interrogation room.

"What do you mean?" Ibiki glared.

"I have no comment" Sakura answered. Ibiki growled, glaring at the girl.

"Then let's continue" Ibiki continued "I'll be blunt here, why were you in the Haruno graveyard? How did you get into the graveyard in the first place?" Ibiki asked.

"I have nothing to say to you" Sakura said.

"Answer the question" Ibiki glowered.

"No" Sakura said calmly.

"You were on sacred grounds, further more you have no right to be on sacred grounds, especially when no one has access to those grounds to begin with!" Ibiki shouted.

"Every person has a right to do what they want when they want" Sakura retorted.

"Not on sacred grounds" Ibiki repeated.

"And what's to stop me from doing what I want?" Sakura questioned.

"I'm the one asking the questions" Ibiki replied "How long have you been going to the grounds?" Ibiki asked, as calmly as he could.

"Five years" Sakura answered, it seemed this was the only straight forward answer she was going to give him for a while.

"You are in direct violation of Konoha law, and if you don't explain to me why you were at that graveyard, you will be punished" Ibiki threatened.

"That's fine by me, throw me in jail for all I care, but I hope you realize that you throw me in jail, you have just locked away the second best medic in Konoha and basically stopped my team from doing any missions other than D-ranked missions, you know how stubborn they are when it comes to accepting other medics in their team" Sakura smirked.

"Cockiness isn't getting you any where" Ibiki growled.

"That's good to know, but, what I am saying is the truth, and you know it, I state facts, not opinions" Sakura sneered.

"There are other punishments other than jail I hope you realize" Ibiki threatened.

"Like what, community service?" Sakura questioned "Oh, how threatening" Sakura mocked.

"Like death" Ibiki smirked.

"That'd be Konoha's loss not mine" Sakura replied.

"You ignorant little brat" Ibiki glared.

"Why thank you" Sakura taunted.

"Exiled is also another option" Ibiki smirked.

"That's no loss to me, again it's only a loss to Konoha" Sakura said bored.

"…" Ibiki made no comment before growling and stepping out of the interrogation room, trying to ignore the triumphant smirked plastered across Sakura's face, as if say 'Ha! You lost against a girl with pink hair!'.

* * *

"Has she always been that arrogant?" Kakashi wondered, watching the interrogation from the window outside.

"I don't think so" Naruto frowned.

"Why exactly do they want to know why Ugly was on sacred ground?" Sai asked.

"Because no one should be able to step foot on that ground _ever_, it's forbidden and impossible" Kakashi explained.

"Apparently not entirely impossible if Sakura's been going there for five years" Sasuke muttered. _'What are you hiding Sakura?'_ Sasuke wondered.

* * *

'_Let's try this again'_ Ibiki sighed inwardly as he walked back into the interrogation room, this time armed with food and water.

"Tell me what I need to know, I give you food and water" Ibiki offered.

"I'm not hungry" Sakura replied.

"What have you got to lose? Just tell me what I want to know, and you can go to train" Ibiki said.

"I have nothing to say to some one who should know why I was there" Sakura muttered quietly, almost incoherently.

"You said you and I did this before, what exactly do you mean?" Ibiki asked.

"I have nothing to tell you" Sakura commented, looking away from him.

'_A master at the shinobi arts, a master at interrogation tactics'_ Ibiki mused, watching her just sit bored in the room, if he didn't know any better, he would have thought that Itachi had taught her these tactics.

"Then at least tell me how come the genjutsu didn't affect you?" Ibiki asked.

"Genjutsu specialist, duh" Sakura scoffed.

"Not even the best genjutsu specialists in our village could detect it" Ibiki replied.

"Then the genjutsu level has been dropping hasn't it" Sakura sneered. Ibiki growled.

"Fine, then I'll leave your team to deal with you" Ibiki said as he motioned for the males of team seven to come in, on Sasuke's shoulder Guyver was sitting, it seemed the hawk had grown a liking towards the Uchiha. Instantly as the males came in, Ibiki left the, watching from the outside.

"Tell us why you were at the Haruno grave yard" Kakashi ordered.

"Tell me why you are so concerned" Sakura fired back.

"Just tell us please Sakura-chan" Naruto begged.

"Go fuck off" Sakura glared "I have nothing to say to you"

"What happened to the little girl I taught five years ago?" Kakashi frowned.

"You taught me jack shit" Sakura glared _'Much like Otou-sama'_

"Why won't you tell us anything?" Naruto cried.

"I have nothing to say to acquaintances" Sakura replied.

"We aren't just acquaintances Sakura, we are team mates; we are friends Sakura" Kakashi said.

'_Not in my eyes'_ Sakura commented inwardly as she watched her _team mates_ surround her.

"If you won't tell us, we have other ways of getting the information we want out of you" Kakashi threatened.

"I dare you" Sakura challenged.

"…" Kakashi was stunned that she had challenged that he would use the sharingan on her.

"Tch! I knew you wouldn't, pathetic" Sakura scoffed.

"Since when have you been so cocky Ugly?" Sai questioned.

"…" This time Sakura had no comment to make, the truth was she never would be this cocky, but it seemed her defenses went up when people asked her about her self, subconsciously or not.

"Just tell us why you were at the Haruno grounds and we will let you go" Kakashi pleaded.

"No" Sakura growled.

"Why not?" Sasuke questioned.

"Why should I tell you guys of all people why I was there?" Sakura retorted, bangs covering her eyes.

"Because we are your friends" Naruto pleaded.

'_Some friends you are, you and Sasuke both left me'_ Sakura thought angrily.

"You were on forbidden ground to any one in Konoha, you have no right to be on the Haruno grave yard, not even elite shinobi are allowed" Kakashi growled.

"The remaining family had made sure that no one was to come onto that graveyard before they left Konoha and put a genjutsu over it" Sasuke glared.

"So tell us why you were on forbidden ground!" Kakashi ordered.

"No one has any right to be there!" Sai said, as calmly as he could.

"And you are no different" Sasuke scoffed. That did it, she snapped as her bangs covered her eyes and she begun to shake violently before she glared at her team mates.

"So I have no right huh?" Sakura questioned.

"You heard us" Naruto muttered.

"I have no right to visit that grave yard eh?" Sakura muttered, shaking harder than before.

"Like everyone else" Sasuke replied.

"SINCE WHEN DO YOU MAKE RULES FOR WHEN I SEE MY FAMILY?!!!!! DO I HAVE NO RIGHT TO PAY MY RESPECTS TO MY FAMILY?!" Sakura shouted as she abruptly stood up from the desk and stood glaring at her team.

"Family?" Naruto asked.

"I thought…" Sasuke muttered.

"I've given you my answer, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to train, I have nothing more to say to you people" Sakura glared at her team mates as she walked away from them and towards the door.

"You're lying" Kakashi commented, making the girl stop in mid action, her hand about to press down on the door handle.

"I suggest you move" Sakura threatened.

"You are in no position to be threatening me Sakura" Kakashi said.

"Please, you are no threat to me, neither is this village, now move" Sakura growled.

"There was only two remaining Harunos from the massacre; how could you be family?" Kakashi said.

"Don't you dare speak of that incident ever again, or I will personally kill you" Sakura muttered.

"How could you know of the massacre, the Third made sure no one found out about it?" Kakashi frowned.

"I said don't ever speak of it ever again!" Sakura growled as she through her self towards him with a kunai to his neck, only to be stopped by Sasuke.

"Tch, you aren't even worth my time" Sakura scoffed as she released her self from his hold and walked out of the interrogation room. Guyver seemed to stay put as he watched his owner walk out of the interrogation room, probably figuring that she needed some space before she killed some one accidentally and was quite content on just sitting on Sasuke's shoulder for the time being.

* * *

Growling to her self, her chakra infused fist punched the ground, creating a massive crater in the middle of the training around.

'_Stupid assholes, what right do they have to order me around?'_ Sakura growled, as she punched a near by tree out of anger, her mind far from the chest from the Third. Suddenly Sakura felt a presence coming towards her, knowing full well of who it was just by the signature, having only felt it a few times, Sakura threw her kunai in the direction of the presence as red became part of the scenery.

"What do you want Karin?" Sakura growled.

"I told you to stay away from Sasuke-sama!" Karin glared as she raced towards her with her fist drawn back ready to punch the blossom. Instantly the girl disappeared from her sight and reappeared from behind the red headed female.

"I warn you now, I'm in a _foul_ mood, and it would be a great pity if you were to _vanish_ mysteriously today" Sakura seethed as she pressed her kunai to the woman's neck.

"That mere kunai couldn't kill me" Karin smirked as her form disappeared from Sakura's sight and right behind her, now with her kunai to Sakura's neck.

"So you hold some talent after all" Sakura sneered "But a kunai isn't going to scare me" Sakura muttered as she disappeared and reappeared in front of her, glaring a deadly glare.

"Don't underestimate me" Karin growled as she ran straight forward to Sakura, and attempted to kick her in the stomach, only to have the attack blocked, not noticing that Sakura had created a chakra scalpel and had most likely severed many nerves in her leg, forcing Karin to fall to the ground. Instantly Sakura surrounded her as she hit each of her limbs with the chakra scalpel, which stopped her from using any jutsus, or moving plain and simply by severing her nerves, hey, if she couldn't do it the Hyuuga way, she'd do it her way.

"Now do you want to die slowly or quickly?" Sakura glared "I have many ways I could choose to kill you" Sakura smirked, bring out a mere senbon needle.

"You can't kill me with that pathetic weapon" Karin sneered.

"Oh, but I can" Sakura jeered "One poke from this needle and you will be dead in a matter of seconds" Sakura smirked evilly as she advanced forward with the needle in hand.

"Now, where do you want the needle?" Sakura smirked as she looked down on the fallen Karin.

"That's enough Sakura" Sasuke ordered as he appeared in between the two women.

"Sasuke-sama" Karin muttered in relief.

"You are lucky, but the next time you come across me, be prepared to say your prayers, I'm a master of ways to kill" Sakura smirked evilly again as she tossed the senbon to the ground and disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Looking down at where the needle had implanted it self into the ground, Karin's eyes widened in fear as the ground was slowly dying away and shriveling up into a dark brown and diseased looking grass. It seemed Karin considered her self lucky that her Sasuke-sama had come at the right time.

"I guess you really should consider your self lucky Karin" Sasuke said as the remaining males of team seven walked up to the two.

"I would consider yourself very lucky" Kakashi mused looking down at the once alive ground.

"Damn, she really did a number on you and in such a short amount of time" Sai snickered.

"She has gotten a lot better" Naruto grinned.

"Sasuke go after her would you, we'll take this one to the hospital" Kakashi ordered. Sasuke nodded as he headed off into the direction that Sakura had just gone towards.

* * *

Continuing to train Sakura growled as she kicked a tree in half, as if it were a mere twig. Sensing Sasuke coming towards her, she punched the tree he was about to jump on, forcing him to fall to the ground and land in an awkward position as the girl ran away from him. Growling at the girl's stubborn nature, Sasuke followed her, jumping in front of her, blocking her path.

"You aren't going anywhere" Sasuke glared at the girl.

"Just leave me alone" Sakura glared, prepared to turn around and leave him.

"No Sakura" Sasuke growled.

"Stop ordering me around" Sakura glared as a wall of earth rose in between them, separating them for a second.

"Is it true?" Sasuke asked as he reappeared behind the girl.

"…" Sakura had no comment, inside her she felt as if she was breaking apart, that the walls she had carefully constructed around her were slowly crumbling into millions of pieces.

"Are you or are you not a Haruno?" Sasuke repeated.

"I have nothing to say to _you_" Sakura glared as she broke down the earth wall and began to race away from Sasuke at incredible speeds, going to one of the only places she no found comfort in, the house she had grown up in.

"Get back here!" Sasuke shouted as he chased after the ever fleeing girl.

"Just leave me alone!" Sakura shouted back at him.

"That's what we always do! Haven't you had enough of being alone?" Sasuke questioned, continuing to chase the cherry blossom.

"I said leave me ALONE!!!" Sakura shouted as she punched one of the trees in her path and kicking it towards Sasuke.

"Stop running away from me!" Sasuke glared.

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" Sakura muttered.

"Because as much as you think you need to be alone, you know as well as I do that you don't want to be alone" Sasuke commented as he reappeared in front of Sakura, catching her in his arms.

"Let me go" Sakura grumbled as she struggled to get out of his hold.

"That's enough Sakura" Sasuke ordered as he held the girl closer to him.

"I said let me go!" Sakura screamed as she pushed him away with as much force as she could possibly muster and ran for her life. Without any choice, Sasuke watched the blossom run away.

'_She can't keep running from everything forever'_ Sasuke commented inwardly.

* * *

'_**You know, you can't keep who you are hidden from the people around you forever'**_

'_Why not, it's what I've done best almost my entire life'_

'_**Maybe it's time to stop'**_

'_What would you know? You had kept your self hidden'_

'…'

'_I made my point, now get lost'_

'_**Are you going to get rid of everyone who has tried to make a connection with you?'**_

'_Why shouldn't I? I live better like that'_

'_**You won't soon'**_

'_Just get lost'_

'_**You'll regret what you have done one day'**_

'_Just get lost'_

"Are you done being alone?" Sasuke asked from a branch above her. Currently the two were on a standing on two separate branches on the one tree, secluded away from any human society. Angry that he found her, Sakura made no comment as she turned her head away from him in disgust and slight embarrassment.

"Are you a Haruno?" Sasuke asked calmly.

"I have nothing to say to the likes of you" Sakura muttered with venom seeping from her voice.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Sasuke shouted.

"We maybe a team as you guys call it, but we are nothing more than colleagues, now if you'll excuse me, I have got more important things to be doing" Sakura glared before she disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"What are you hiding Sakura?" Sasuke muttered before he too disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

A low 'poof' erupted from inside the blossom's room before the girl her self fell onto the bed, feeling completely drained from the day for some strange reason. Averting her gaze to around the room her eyes fell upon the wooden chest that she received from the Third, next to the chest were the pieces of the key she had found through the various courtyards. Peeling herself off the black round bed, the girl stumbled over to the table, bringing out the key piece her 'parents' had given her which was tied to a piece of string that hung around her neck. Fiddling with the pieces of the key, she slipped each piece one by one onto the main piece making the mysterious puzzle complete.

Slotting the complete key into the key hole, the girl turned the lock as the padlocked 'clicked' indicating that it was unlocked. Taking the padlock off the chest plate and setting it aside, anxiousness bubbled through her as her thoughts raced at a million miles an hour as to what could possibly be inside the mysterious wooden chest. Swallowing the lump in her throat, the girl opened the chest as her eyes widened in excitement, like a child opening their present during Christmas. Opening the chest fully the girl stared in shock as she continued to gaze down at what was inside it, for what was inside this mysterious wooden chest that was left behind for her from the Third, and was presumably something to do with her bloodline, was….

* * *

"Teme did you find Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked running up to Sasuke.

"She ran away after I caught her" Sasuke confessed as he sat down at the Ichiraku stand and ordered a miso ramen. Sitting on his shoulder was Guyver who was glaring at Naruto.

"What is she hiding?" Kakashi sighed.

* * *

And inside the chest was…a set of scrolls. Sakura nearly fell over in annoyance. Taking the first scroll out, the blossom slowly unrolled the mysterious scroll and read the contents.

'_Hello my little blossom-chan,_

_It would seem that you have finally come to the age where you have discovered the Haruno kekkei genkai bubbling inside you at this very moment and knowing you, you have not mastered it yet because you prefer a written description of what something is. So here it is. The Haruno clan kekkei genkai is the ability to manipulate, control and wield elements. Out of the four elements, the ones as a Haruno that you can control will be either Water, Ice, Fire, Lightning, Grass, Earth, Ground or Wind, by the rare occasion you maybe able to use all of the elements, then you are truly talented and deserve the title of an Haruno prodigy, a title not even your respected onii-chan and onee-chan could obtain, and knowing you, you will most likely get that title in due time._

_The other scrolls have the respected elements incased in them, with inscriptions on how to wield each element and techniques you can use for each element, the only thing in common with each element is that it requires mass amounts of chakra, and excellent chakra control is also a benefit when using these techniques. Remember you are strong already my little blossom-chan and don't you forget it. You are Haruno Sakura, and I believe you will be a Haruno prodigy. You have great strength bubbling in you, even at a young age; make me proud blossom-chan._

_I love you dearly,_

_Your Oji-chan' _

Smiling to herself the blossom looked through each scroll, knowing full well that indeed her grandfather was right, and that she could wield each element, unlike many other Haruno who could only wield a maximum of two. Pinking up the water scroll her eyes scanned the contents of the blue coloured scroll.

'_Water and Ice:_

_Like water jutsus, there must be a source of water in the area for you to conjure up to use in battle or for anything else. In conjunction with water, the side element, Ice, is also capable for you to use when manipulating it. To use water or ice, treat it like an extension of your form, allow it naturally flow off you when using it, apply strength when you need to at the last second, but other than that, make your movements with water fluid like water, move as if you are dancing with it. To control water or ice, most find it preferable to use hands as it is easier to control water or any other element like that. First, will chakra to your arms and then with your mind control the water, however though your mind speaks the motion, your body must move in time with your thoughts for you to control water and ice perfectly. For water to freeze into ice and ice to melt into water, just think about it'_

"Fire and lightning" Sakura muttered pinking up the red and yellow scroll.

'_Fire and Lightning:_

_Fire, just as their jutsu partners requires a large build up of chakra, preferably in the hands region, but others have been known to blow out of their mouth and made using their feet. Fire unlike water, does not need to be there to be used, all it requires is chakra, or in a beginners situation, a spark. Fire, also unlike water, requires power from start to finish, it needs to be strong constantly; you must apply power to have power. It is not an extension of your body; it is part of your body. Lightning, however is similar to water in the sense it is an extension of your body, and requires the free flow of your movements to work. However, like fire elements, it requires power from start to finish, making this a hard element to master. Like fire, all that needs to happen is a chakra build up or in a beginners place, a spark, however, unlike fire, lightning is the raw chakra that is being molded and controlled, to make lightning, as soon as the spark has been made, control it, even a second to late and it will form into a fire, which also makes it difficult to master. Think about the element, the movement and then do it, the simplest advice for this element manipulation'_

'_Grass, Earth, Ground:_

_Depending on the exact type of element, it will either be raw power by chakra and an extension of the body. However unlike Water, ice, Fire and lightning, this element is never in the hands of the manipulator, the manipulator in this particular case is a conductor and controller, giving the elements movement to attack. The technique is much harder to master for these elements but is known to be one of the much stronger ones. To control and use the elements, think about the movement, the strength, apply chakra and complete the action physically.'_

'_Wind:_

_An element which is ultimately a pathetic element unless a great deal of power into the attacks. However though the element appears useless, with much practice and work, this element is considered to be one of the more deadly elements that you as a Haruno can wield and manipulate. Chakra is the basis of these attacks and all it takes is a small amount of chakra to give off a powerful blast to blow enemies away. Though the element is single compared to other elements, wind can be used to move other elements, thus seen as a strong element. Like any other element, use chakra, form the plan and complete.'_

"I don't believe it" Sakura muttered.

'_**You better start working on these things'**_

'_I know; what should I do first though?'_

'_**I reckon start with water; you are closest to that element than any other element'**_

'_Good plan'_

Slowly Sakura stood up from her place in her room and disappeared from sight, appearing back at the docks where she practiced the Katon jutsu. Breathing in deeply, she relaxed her tense muscles as she concentrated, allowing chakra to move through her system and into her arms, thinking about the movement she was about to do. Remembering an old dance her mother had once taught her, she moved freely and carelessly. Slowly water rose to her hand in a line, forming into a long string-like form, moving with the girl like ribbons on a stick, flowing carelessly and smoothly, as the scroll had said; an extension of her self. Realizing how easy it seemed when she knew what she was doing she began moving in intricate and difficult movements, experimenting in which ways she could move, and which she couldn't.

Suddenly feeling a cold breeze rush passed her system, the water whips froze into an icy form as she continued the ancient dance which was being brought back from the dead. The ice seemed to move just as smoothly as the water, if not smoother as Sakura began putting more power into the moves, occasionally actually using the ice as whips on random trees which broke them in half effortlessly. Wondering if water had the same affect, her mind focused on ice melting before it defrosted into the fee flowing liquid and whipped another tree which also snapped in half like a twig.

Smirking to herself in triumph the girl continued the water dance with her kekkei genkai, each time adding more and more power to the whips, eventually moving into different forms that the water could mold into like balls, spears, even needles, each times experimenting on how hard she could use them with both ice and water and it seemed with her ability it was a very strong hit each time.

* * *

Sasuke glared at her and when he glared he sent death glares that could kill thousands of times over before you could say 'mercy'. With Naruto, Sai and Kakashi he had been _casually observing_ the girl from a distance. To them it wasn't _spying_, they were merely gaining information on the girl that she refused to tell them, and now this was more than enough proof that she didn't trust them at all. On his shoulder sat Sakura's hawk, Guyver, his talons closing in on his shoulder, as if saying 'stop glaring at her or you won't have a shoulder left', damn that bird could pull a threat very well, much like his owner.

Even from a rather long distance, all four males could tell she was quite talented with what ever her ability was, but when they had asked about it, she claimed she didn't know what it was. Yes it was a possibility that she had just discovered what her ability was, but because it was her, they didn't believe it, I mean, she knew _everything_! Even as a genin, she knew what was needed of her and how to do it, she was in a way, perfect! At everything!

Though even though he was angered with her for lying to them, to _him_, he couldn't help but admit that she did move gracefully. When ever she moved with her technique it was like a dance, her foot work was smooth, her movements were like water, always flowing with beauty, and in a way, like a lot of her jutsus, she was like them, she was like water, smooth, graceful, beautiful, but inside the beauty held great power, like water did, in great masses water could kill, some times in the most cruel ways he had ever seen, but he still admitted, she was like that. Seemingly innocent, always enclosed by some barrier which kept her in check, but if released could create great damage, people loved her when she had the barrier around her, they liked to be with her, much like little children who adored her like they adored playing in water, but as soon as she would kill some one like a big wave, they would hate her before she calmed down again.

Noticing the other scowling males around him, he couldn't help but smirk inwardly at how his little blossom managed to keep her little talent a secret from everyone else, especially her team, the one with _two_ sharingan users, one of them supposedly her closest friends, a loud mouth who could get some thing out of any one and that other guy who was a former ANBU member, how she thwarted them and kept her secret from exploding was beyond him, but he did indeed congratulate her. Looking over to Kakashi, he received a nod as an indication before all four males stood from their hiding places and moved to have a little _talk_ with the _innocent_ little blossom.

* * *

Not noticing the glares and whatever else that were being sent in her direction, the girl continued to focus on her training, mainly working with water and ice needle forms because she had found that the needles would be a very effective tool in battle, but I just didn't have the power at the moment to be used in any battle water so ever. Instantly water flew up ito the air, spraying everything in its path with salty goodness before forming tiny needles. Narrowing her eyes, Sakura focused on the movement of the needles, sending them through various obstacles to determine how much strength each could take before they would break and become useless. By the end of the _little_ obstacle course there were only a few former-water-now-ice needles left that were still moving around and were now actually returning to the blossom as she prepared to make a full 180 degrees turn.

As if in slow motion, her team appeared behind her as she turned around with the needles which were flying towards the four males at incredible speeds. Startled, she gasped slightly before he needles came to an immediate halt, just in front of their noses no less. Holding the needles in place, she watched the four males glare at her, or sneer at her, waiting for them to say a word before she released them, if she wanted to, she could have hit them with the needles, thus basically killing them, seeing as if they hit and penetrated the skull into the brain, they could possibly be dead, it was lucky for them that she has excellent chakra control. Noting that none were going to speak, she glared at them.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked, growling.

"Oh, you almost kill us and all you say is 'what do you want?'" Sai scoffed. Glaring at Sai, Sakura dropped the needles, allowing the ice to melt as it splashed onto the wooden board walk.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry" Sakura spat "Now let me ask again, what the _fuck_ do you want?!" Sakura growled.

"Don't you dare speak to your sensei like that!" Kakashi reprimanded.

"You never seemed to be a sensei in my eyes" Sakura scoffed "Now, I'll ask again, what do you want?!" Sakura glared.

"Tell us how you were able to do that Sakura-chan! I want to do it" Naruto pleaded, very excited at the thought he could learn a new jutsu.

"You would never be able to do it" Sakura scoffed.

"I can do anything! Believe it!" Naruto smirked as he moved into the nice guy pose.

"Please, you would never be able to master my technique" Sakura scoffed.

"And why is that?" Kakashi asked.

"It's called a kekkei genkai! Ever heard of it?" Sakura spat disgustedly before walking away with hands clenched into fists, Guyver flying right behind her, happy to be with his owner again instead of the Uchiha.

"What the hell was that about?" Sai asked.

"I think we are getting on her nerves a little" Kakashi thought aloud.

"No matter! I will learn her technique! What ever a kekkei genkai is never stops me!" Naruto proclaimed. Just then all three males hit Naruto over the head.

"You dobe, kekkei genkai is a blood line trait, you can't do the technique because it's not in your blood unless you have some distant blood line relation with Sakura, which I highly doubt" Sasuke scoffed.

"Why didn't she say that?!" Naruto cried, upset he couldn't learn Sakura's awesome techniques.

"She did Dickless" Sai sighed.

"But, if that is a blood line trait, what blood line is it?" Kakashi asked aloud.

"There can only be one possible answer for that" Sai said.

"The Haruno kekkei genkai" Sasuke finished.

"I guess she really is a Haruno then" Kakashi sighed, obviously upset that he was wrong, what a blow to an ego…

"And you didn't believe her, maybe next time you should" Sasuke scoffed, walking away from the remaining team seven, in hopes that Sakura hadn't killed something yet so he could talk to her.

* * *

Growling to herself, in anger that her team never did believe her and for the idiocy of Naruto, she punched a tree in half before she calmed her self down a slight fraction and began on earth and grass manipulation. Technically, she figured with grass, under that category came things like trees, plants and flowers, and perhaps weeds if she was some what lucky. Breathing in to calm her self down more, she continued her training, not minding that her arms were basically crying and begging her to stop after all the chakra what has passed through them.

* * *

Watching her train, he saw some of the most amazing moves from her that he had ever seen. Controlling water was one thing, but controlling ground, earth and plants and such was another! It looked a lot more straining on the body and required a lot more focus than when she was with water. Movements had to be perfect and not free flowing like water, it was, in a way, looked hard, strong and powerful, while water looked like it could barely snap a fly in two, earth had power. Maybe Sasuke would have to rethink his philosophy of the blossom; maybe she was, as her ability, like all elements. She was calm like water, powerful like earth, destructive like fire and lightning but also soft and gentle like wind. Jumping down from his hiding spot in the trees, Sasuke slowly and cautiously approached the girl, not really wanting to face her wrath while was in one of those moods.

* * *

Sensing a presence coming towards, her cautious side had brought roots out from the ground and grasped the unsuspecting person in her roots hold, tightening its hold around the person as they grew closer to each other. Slowly as the final tree had separated the two beings from each other, Sakura gasped inwardly when she realized she had caught Sasuke. Glaring at him for a moment, she released him and allowed him to defend himself if he chose to.

"A little paranoid don't you think?" Sasuke questioned, massaging his slightly sore limbs from being in that strangle hold of roots.

"Tch. What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, keeping the anger inside her from busting out and hitting him.

"Just wondering if you had killed anyone yet" Sasuke said, though he was inwardly asking if she was okay. Knowing what he had basically asked, she played along with where he was going.

"No, not _yet_. But if that little prep of yours comes crawling around the insect she is, I may _accidentally_ injure her with one of my poison needles" Sakura smirked evilly, liking the thought of killing the little witch, which was oddly enough sending a cold shiver down the Uchiha's back just looking at her evil smirk.

"Right…I tell her to stop by" Sasuke nodded.

"Don't mind if you do, maybe send those fangirls here to, I've been meaning to squish them lately" Sakura cackled. Boy that was scary.

"Can't have to many deaths there, those fangirls make up half of the Konoha population and an eighth or so of the ninja power in our village" Sasuke shook his head.

"What really? I could have sworn it was less" Sakura muttered, remembering that last time she had seen any fan girl they had this miniscule amount of strength…oh well it was just another body to jump in front of the Hokage to take a hit.

"Does this mean you have control of your power again?" Sasuke asked.

"That would seem quite obvious Uchiha" Sakura scoffed.

"So you are a Haruno then?" Sasuke asked. Suddenly the rest of her team appeared, as well as the other rookie nine teams appeared with Team Gai.

"…" Sakura made no motion that she would be speaking any time soon, and before they knew what was happening, she had disappeared in a cloud of smoke with Guyver on her head.

* * *

The next day, it seemed to be so quiet, even Naruto was quiet. Upset that the girl he treated like a sister wouldn't tell him anything, for that matter anyone anything. Right now, the rookie nine, Team Gai, their teachers and the two remaining legendary Sannin sat in Ichiraku, eating ramen while trying to understand the pink haired girl they seemed to know for what seemed like forever. Sighing heavily, Naruto continued to slurp his noodles unenthusiastically like any one else in the Ramen stall, who all held a very glum mood.

Suddenly, without warning, a hawk came flapping into the shop, landing on the Uchiha's shoulder, on his leg was a little messenger box which had a piece of paper in it. Noticing the bird had a message on him, he undid the strap of the messenger pouch and took out the message as Guyver waited for him to read it.

"What's it say Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted as he unrolled the note.

"_To whom this may concern,_

_Yes. What you asked is true. My full name, to answer Ibiki-san's question, is Haruno Sakura, the youngest and only non-traitor Haruno left around. Which is why I was at the Haruno graveyard on the anniversary of their death, and if you ever accuse me of doing something wrong ever again, all the Haruno children will become missing-nin, I have no problem becoming one._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Haruno Sakura_

_Haruno Prodigy"_ Sasuke read out, reading the note over and over again, surprised that the blossom he had known since his genin and academy days actually gave a straight answer for once, but of course, she had to end it with a threat…how like her…

* * *

**Notes:**

-So how'd you like that chapter...it seemed a little longer than my other chapters as of late, and slightly better I think to, which I am extremely happy about :)

-I am so sorry about the lack of updates lately, I have had no time what so ever to write anything, and when I say anything I mean _**anything**_! It's quite depressing :( But I have been writing every now and again when I have a miniscule amount of free time :D So I hope that will suffice for now .'' I don't really want to post one of those chapters which say 'OMG I am lyk so SORRY!!! I can't post 2dAY becasue I am lyk so busy! So sorry!' or something along those lines, don't want to get your hope up and all e.e;

-I hope you like this chapter, and sooner or later I will post a HNiS chapter, I promise!

-RxR, no flaming as always

* * *

**Chapter 4:** My Gifts are My Curse

* * *


	5. Her Amazing Power

Chapter 4: Her Amazing Power...

--

**Summary: **She was admired, she was worshiped; she was praised. She grew in strength and power, she grew distant towards people. Since five, she had trying to save the people around her, but then she just gave up after her closest friend left her. She had never cried since the slaughter of her clan, but she still smiled, but as soon as he left, everything changed, she stopped smiling, she had forgotten how to. She had saved people numerous times in battle with her knowledge and abilities, she brought them back healthy from the missions they came across, it didn't matter, as long as her whole team came back safely, even if she was on the brink of death, she wouldn't allow her self to die pathetically. She had saved everyone, yet she was the one in need of saving; saving from herself and her decaying heart. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.

--

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Inner selves'**_

"Talking"

_FLASH BACK…_

P.O.V

--

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

--

**Recap:**

Sensing a presence coming towards, her cautious side had brought roots out from the ground and grasped the unsuspecting person in her roots hold, tightening its hold around the person as they grew closer to each other. Slowly as the final tree had separated the two beings from each other, Sakura gasped inwardly when she realized she had caught Sasuke. Glaring at him for a moment, she released him and allowed him to defend himself if he chose to.

"A little paranoid don't you think?" Sasuke questioned, massaging his slightly sore limbs from being in that strangle hold of roots.

"Tch. What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, keeping the anger inside her from busting out and hitting him.

"Just wondering if you had killed anyone yet" Sasuke said, though he was inwardly asking if she was okay. Knowing what he had basically asked, she played along with where he was going.

"No, not _yet_. But if that little prep of yours comes crawling around the insect she is, I may _accidentally_ injure her with one of my poison needles" Sakura smirked evilly, liking the thought of killing the little witch, which was oddly enough sending a cold shiver down the Uchiha's back just looking at her evil smirk.

"Right…I'll tell her to stop by" Sasuke nodded.

"Don't mind if you do, maybe send those fangirls here to, I've been meaning to squish them lately" Sakura cackled. Boy that was scary.

"Can't have to many deaths there, those fangirls make up half of the Konoha population and an eighth or so of the ninja power in our village" Sasuke shook his head.

"What really? I could have sworn it was less" Sakura muttered, remembering that last time she had seen any fan girl they had this miniscule amount of strength…oh well it was just another body to jump in front of the Hokage to take a hit.

"Does this mean you have control of your power again?" Sasuke asked.

"That would seem quite obvious Uchiha" Sakura scoffed.

"So you are a Haruno then?" Sasuke asked. Suddenly the rest of her team appeared, as well as the other rookie nine teams appeared with Team Gai.

"…" Sakura made no motion that she would be speaking any time soon, and before they knew what was happening, she had disappeared in a cloud of smoke with Guyver on her head.

--

The next day, it seemed to be so quiet, even Naruto was quiet. Upset that the girl he treated like a sister wouldn't tell him anything, for that matter anyone anything. Right now, the rookie nine, Team Gai, their teachers and the two remaining legendary Sannin sat in Ichiraku, eating ramen while trying to understand the pink haired girl they seemed to know for what seemed like forever. Sighing heavily, Naruto continued to slurp his noodles unenthusiastically like any one else in the Ramen stall, who all held a very glum mood.

Suddenly, without warning, a hawk came flapping into the shop, landing on the Uchiha's shoulder, on his leg was a little messenger box which had a piece of paper in it. Noticing the bird had a message on him, he undid the strap of the messenger pouch and took out the message as Guyver waited for him to read it.

"What's it say Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted as he unrolled the note.

"_To whom this may concern,_

_Yes. What you asked is true. My full name, to answer Ibiki-san's question, is Haruno Sakura, the youngest and only non-traitor Haruno left around. Which is why I was at the Haruno graveyard on the anniversary of their death, and if you ever accuse me of doing something wrong ever again, all the Haruno children will become missing-nin, I have no problem becoming one._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Haruno Sakura_

_Haruno Prodigy"_ Sasuke read out, reading the note over and over again, surprised that the blossom he had known since his genin and academy days actually gave a straight answer for once, but of course, she had to end it with a threat…how like her…

**End Recap.**

--

"Is it true?"

"Apparently it is"

"How can it be? There were only two left!"

"She said it her self"

"But can we trust her word?"

"Why not? She has been trust worthy before"

"But is she really trustworthy now? There is still little we know about with her…"

"How can you say that?! She has never once lied to us!"

"But she never told us the full truth has she?"

"How would you know?!"

"As a Konoha shinobi, allow her to tell her when she is ready"

"Hai"

--

"I'll ask this again! What. Do. You. Want?!" Sakura glared, holding a sake bottle filled with sake teasingly in front of the Hokage's nose, the woman her self tied to a chair so she couldn't move.

"Mah Sake! Gimme mah sake" Tsunade slurred as she attempted to get the sake back.

"I repeat for the tenth time, tell me why you called me here after I was here TEN minutes ago and I will let you and your sake off painlessly" Sakura threatened.

"Mou, Sakura-chan so mean" Tsunade cried.

"Sakura-san…" Shizune stuttered. Suddenly Naruto and Sasuke came waltzing into the Hokage's office, slightly baffled at the sight before them. Tsunade was taped and tied to her blue chair by chakra strings and chains with Sakura waving a sake bottle in front of the woman's nose with Guyver sitting on a brown bag, full of sake bottles.

"Ano, Sakura-chan" Naruto sweatdropped.

"Just what are you doing Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

"Tell me what you want or your sake will be gone and paper work will suddenly increase" Sakura seethed, bringing it up, threatening to smash the bottle so the contests would fly every where so the blonde woman couldn't get any.

"Waaahhhhh!! Sakura-chan! Gimme sake! NOO!!! Not the paper work!" Tsunade cried desperately. Well this was definitely a sight to see, after all it isn't every day Tsunade is caught and tortured like this; the girl was some what creative as to still torture the woman but not actually physically harm her.

"Guyver" Sakura muttered, clicking her fingers. Suddenly the bird tossed a senbon needle from a pouch on its leg and hit the bottle square in the centre, cracking the bottle just enough so liquid could still be held in it without spilling.

"Sakura…" Sasuke sweatdropped.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, what on earth is going on?" Naruto asked.

"Well you see…" Sakura began, still glaring at the woman, now holding a kunai to the golden eyed woman's temple.

_FLASH BACK…_

"_Sakura-san! I'm glad I found you!" Shizune breathed._

"_What is it Shizune?" Sakura asked, pulling out the recently thrown kunai out of a target._

"_Tsunade-sama has gotten a hold of a stash of sake and won't stop babbling about purple flying monkey pigs and how they will take over the world!" Shizune explained._

"_And?" Sakura raised a questioning eyebrow._

"_She is also asking for you" Shizune sweatdropped._

"_I was there five minutes ago" Sakura frowned._

"_I know but she is desperately calling you, it is becoming quite….err…weird" Shizune muttered._

"_Hai" Sakura sighed "Let's go" Sakura nodded as Guyver landed on the girl's shoulder before both disappeared into a cloud of smoke._

_--_

"_Tsunade, what do you want?" Sakura asked as she reappeared in the Hokage's office, not quite expecting the sight in front of her. Tsunade was sitting on the ground obviously drunken, waving an empty sake bottle around with a paper hat on her head and the red curtain around her acting as a cape, using a poorly drawn face as a mask or something. _

"_Sakura-chan, come on, join meeeee" Tsunade pleaded._

"_What did you want?" Sakura asked, trying to remember why they suggested her to be the Hokage._

"_Come and I'll tell you" Tsunade said. Sakura stepped a foot closer._

"_A little closer" Tsunade said. Sakura complied._

"_A little more" Tsunade beckoned so that the blossom was a step in front of the Hokage._

"_One more step" Tsunade ordered. Sighing, the pink haired girl complied before she was brought down by the woman's super human strength and pulled into a massive hug._

"_Sakura-chan! My little blossom-chan!" Tsunade squealed "You are so kawaii!!! Come with me to Sake Mountain!" Tsunade pleaded._

"_Nani?" Sakura gagged._

"_Come on, Sake Mountain! I need you to protect me from the purple flying monkey pigs and the pink and green spotted blue beans of tea!" Tsunade proclaimed, excited at the idea of going on this 'adventure' to this 'Sake Mountain'. _

"_What on earth?" Sakura muttered looking at the drunken Hokage._

"_Let's go see the magical Sake rose and get more sake for the village!" Tsunade slurred._

"_Oh Kami" Sakura muttered as she tried to pull out of Tsunade's hold but failed._

"_Waahh! Sakura-chan save me from the evil elder gorilla swimming wrinkle ostriches! They're coming to kill me!" Tsunade cried._

"_My god!" Sakura groaned._

"_Waahhh!!! The uber-ebil Sake stealing snake-toady monster ish going to take away mah sake!" Tsunade proclaimed "My Precious!!!" Tsunade cried as she flung the girl out of her hold and swiped her big bag of sake bottle away, running around the room madly, the supposed 'uber-ebil Sake stealing snake-toady monster' was Shizune who was hoping to get the sake bottles away from the woman._

"_You'll never get your mitts on me treasure!" Tsunade growled, in a very pirate styled accent._

"_That's it!" Sakura growled as she stormed over to the fast running Hokage, swiped the bottle off her as well as the bag and in one swift move tied the woman up effortlessly, pulling out chains, chakra strings and tape out of now where, which kept her in place on her chair, Sakura would have preferred something a little more uncomfortable and spiky but that was the only chair available at the time so she wasn't fussy._

"_Now, tell me what it is you want" Sakura glared._

"_Waahhh!!! Purple flying one-green-eyed pink haired black monster! Gimme my sake back!" Tsunade pleaded._

…_END FLASH BACK _

"I'm sure you can guess the rest" Sakura glared at the woman.

"Sakura-chan…maybe you shouldn't…." Naruto sweatdropped.

"Purple flying one-green-eyed pink haired black monster! Give me my precious back! Or ye will pay!" Tsunade slurred.

"Guyver" Sakura said, again the hawk brought out another senbon needle and pierced the exact same spot on the bottle, leaving the contents in side to drizzle out slowly.

"Eeek! My precious!" Tsunade gasped as she attempted to move to save her sake.

"Guyver would you please dispose of the bag" Sakura ordered. The bird complied, grabbing the bag by its talons and flying out of the room with the bag in hand, well, it's talons anyway, so to speak…

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! My sake!" Tsunade cried as she watched the bag of sake get smaller and smaller.

"Now, you better tell me what you want before I get rid of the rest of the sake in the town" Sakura threatened.

"No!" Tsunade gasped. Not sure whether or not Tsunade said 'no' because of her threat or because of her request, Sakura growled tossing the sake bottle in her hand out of the window before walking out of the office, mumbling curses. Suddenly a louder curse was heard out side the window, cursing the Hokage for throwing her sake bottle outside of the window, obviously the discarded bottle had hit the man.

"Shizune-san, what exactly did Tsunade want with Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know, she just called her" Shizune frowned and went to go console the mourning Hokage who was crying about her lost sake.

"Maybe we should come back at another time" Naruto whispered to Sasuke.

"Yea" Sasuke nodded as the two males turned to leave.

"Chotto matte!" Tsunade cried, stopping them from leaving. Amazing how quick she was to get over something and become sober.

"What do you want Tsunade-baa-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Don't call me baa-chan brat" Tsunade glared "Anyway, I called you guys here because you have a mission" Tsunade smiled "Can you get Sakura-chan back in here Shizune" Tsunade ordered.

"…" Shizune sweatdropped.

"Nani?" Tsunade frowned.

"She seemed pretty annoyed when she left" Shizune muttered.

"Oh, right, well here's the mission scroll, tell Sakura when you find her that you guys have a mission tomorrow morning" Tsunade ordered.

"Hai" the two males nodded before walking out of the room to go find the blossom.

--

SAKURA'S POV

I sighed for the fifth time this morning. Why was I here again?

_FLASH BACK…_

"_No, I refuse" Sakura stated. Shortly after Sasuke and Naruto left, Sakura returned, calmer and prepared to listen to Tsunade, but now she was down right annoyed._

"_You have no choice in the matter" Tsunade retorted._

"_Why not get some one else to do it? It's only a C-rank mission" Sakura said._

"_Because there is no one else available" Tsunade explained._

"_Isn't there at least one medic?" Sakura asked._

"_Not one, I would have put another medic on the squad if I could have" Tsunade sighed "You're just a fill in for this mission"_

"_You better be correct about that, I already resigned from Team Kakashi, I am no longer their team mate, further more, I hate team missions" Sakura glared._

"_Gomen nasai Sakura-chan" Tsunade sweatdropped._

"_Tch. Whatever" Sakura snorted before storming out of the Hokage office._

…_END FLASH BACK_

Oh, yea, that's right; I got dragged along to this C-rank mission with Sasuke and Naruto, those two were also the only ones available at the time for the mission. Naturally, I was enraged to be on this mission in the first place, considering only a few weeks ago I resigned from Team Kakashi since I believed the team work in that team was all over the place and it was for my better health if I dropped off that team, and aside that, the tension right now is unbearable, after they found out about me being a Haruno I basically avoided them completely, so basically this is our first mission together in roughly six or seven months. After the first month, I felt no need to stay on the team and so I resigned.

_FLASH BACK…_

"_So good to see you Sakura-chan, what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you today?" Tsunade smiled._

"_To discuss my resignation off team Kakashi" Sakura said monotonously. After Sakura spoke there was a long moment of silence._

"_A-are you sure this is what you want?" Tsunade asked the pink haired teenager in front of her._

"_Hai, as of today, I will be resigning from the resurrected Team Seven or Team Kakashi" Sakura nodded._

"_What about as a shinobi?" Tsunade asked._

"_Did I say anything about resigning as a shinobi?" Sakura raised a critical eyebrow._

"_Hai, understood" Tsunade nodded "I will inform you team immediately"_

"_Do as you wish, but I have one request" Sakura said._

"_Which is?" Tsunade raised a curious eyebrow._

"_Missions, as a preference, only give me solo missions" Sakura said before bowing and disappearing in a cloud of smoke before the Godaime's golden eyes._

…_END FLASH BACK_

The mission was a pretty simple one, escort two shinobi from Fall to their country and leave them be. Like I said, not too difficult, why we were guiding shinobi around was beyond me, but here we were walking in the middle of the forest towards Fall. To my left was Naruto, snickering away at the sight of Sasuke and to my right was the teen Naruto was laughing at, Sasuke, on his shoulder, a little prep clinging to him like no tomorrow. She had black hair tied into two pony tails with obnoxiously big pink ribbons, wearing this absolutely ridiculous poofy skirt and pink boob tube ensemble, in my opinion definitely not something a shinobi should be wearing, but who am I to question the girl's fashion sense? Maybe the reason we were guiding them was because they were only genin…well the girl had to be anyway…the other person, well apparently he was the leader of Fall or something. Behind me was the supposed leader of Fall, he had brown eyes and long brown hair, wearing a typical ninja get up.

His name was…err…what was it again? Shibuki? Yea that was it! I vaguely remember the mission briefing yesterday, went something along the lines, please escort Shibuki-san and Ayumi-san back to Fall safely, receive the payment and we're done. Of course, me being the jounin of the group was team leader, which put a major dent into Sasuke and Naruto's massive ego. I really didn't mind, it would have been Kakashi or Sai but they were both out and Yamato or whatever his name just came back and was having a day off so they really couldn't put him on a mission…considering he _was_ in hospital with severe burn injuries or something, which left me, the only person who can work better than any one else with Konoha's number one hyper active knuckle head idiot and the brooding teen who was still to claim the title of the 'last Uchiha' around.

Tsunade said something about the team needing a medic and stuff, but I knew it was basically a code for 'keep Naruto and Sasuke from killing each other and everyone else around them' and aside that, they refuse to work with any other medic besides me, stupid brooding teenager and crazy kitsune, just great, just great.

"Ne, ne, Sasuke-kun, why did you become a shinobi?" Ayumi asked. As funny as it is to watch Sasuke suffer the wrath of a fangirl, this one is becoming very annoying…

"Hn" Sasuke grunted, the typical Uchiha answer…which could probably translated into: "Shut up you little brat"

"Sasuke-kun, will you stay with me in Fall for a while? It's boring without you" Ayumi pouted. This time, Sasuke made no comment and settled with glaring at her, which really didn't work well. It was actually quite amazing, fangirls could be cut by a blade of grass and cry for years on end but when it came to Sasuke giving them his shut-up-you-little-whore-I-hate-you-so-much-that'd-I'd-kill-you-painfully-and-slowly glare, a glare which by the way scared many high ranking and fearless shinobi, the girls were immune to it, even I have to say this glare was pretty scary.

"Alright, let's move on, we're falling behind schedule" I announced before I started walking at a much faster pace.

"And what makes you think that you can just order us around like that?" Ayumi challenged.

"For one, I _am_ team captain and in charge for the duration of this mission" I sneered.

"Why are you following her orders Sasuke-kun?" Ayumi cried. It was considering she was older than me by at least ten years, but I swear she acted like a five year old.

"She's team captain" Sasuke grunted, following my lead and picking up his pace. Suddenly out of no where a random hawk flew out of the bushes near by, scaring Ayumi and Shibuki to death, so much that they both squealed in terror and hid, one behind Sasuke the other behind me, I'm sure you can guess who's hiding behind who.

"It was just a bird" Naruto sweatdropped.

"I know that!" Shibuki shouted, pushing his weight down on me as he shouted to Naruto. I couldn't help but twitch at this guy's paranoia. He was supposed to be this courageous and brave leader of the Hidden Fall and yet here he was cowering behind me like a scared child, and further more, apparently his father was the leader before him and he was amazingly strong and powerful, he seems so pathetic, it's actually quite nerve racking.

'_He's so unreliable, how can he be a leader?'_ I questioned looking down on him.

As we continued to walk the sound of rushing water echoed through the forest, indicating that either a river was near by or this mission was finally over. Trudging up a small headland, the waterfall eventually came into view. It was actually quite big, amazing. I wonder how they actually get into the Hidden Fall anyway.

"Sugoi! This is such a big waterfall" Naruto exclaimed as he continued to stare at the flowing waterfall.

"We have arrived" I announced.

"So this is Hidden Fall?" Sasuke asked.

"You bet, isn't it amazing?" Ayumi squealed.

"Come on, let's finish this mission" I announced, jumping down to the bank of the river and base of the waterfall, behind me the other four were following my example and hoped off the head land, jumping next to me on the bank. Walking the length of the river, Naruto, Sasuke and Ayumi continued to gaze at the waterfall in awe amazed at its beauty.

"Shibuki-sama, Ayumi-san" a little child chirped as two little kids came running towards us from the forest.

"Shibuki-sama, you're back" the little girl smiled.

"Hello, but I can't play with you guys, I am the leader of the village you know" Shibuki smiled.

"No, we're just cleaning the river" the little boy insisted.

"Okaa-san told us to" the little explained.

"I see, well then how about some help?" Shibuki asked "From some Konoha Leaf ninja"

"Eh?" Naruto gasped.

"I'll pay, treat it as another mission?" Shibuki smiled.

"We're not garbage men! Give me a break!" Naruto scoffed.

"Arigato nii-chan! The river moves a lot faster here, we were scared to go in" the little boy exclaimed.

"Sakura-chan" Naruto whined.

"It'll cost you" I said, crossing my arms "We'll negotiate pay later, this will be separate to the original mission though" I nodded.

"Oi, are we done protecting you?" Sasuke asked.

"You can protect me for as long as you like" Ayumi slurred.

"Err…" Shibuki sweatdropped "Yea, you're done" Shibuki nodded.

"Well, then, Naruto, Sasuke hop to it" I ordered.

"Demo, Sakura-chan…" Naruto cried.

"You heard me" I said.

'_**Something's coming'**_

'_Are you sure?'_

'_**Positive, three to four people, they're moving around in the forest around here'**_

'_Alright, I'll be on the look out'_

"Hai" Naruto grumbled, obviously upset. Stomping over to the river, Naruto and Sasuke began fishing through the river, picking out the various bits of garbage and what not.

"Shibuki" I began.

"Hai?" Shibuki questioned.

"I heard rumours of shinobi movement in this area, are they true?" I asked.

"Rumours?" Shibuki repeated.

"There are rumours swirling around that shinobi from other countries are trying to attack this village, surely you would have heard of it?" I explained.

"Oh, there are rumours like that all the time" Shibuki explained.

"I see, your father fought against shinobi like that yea?" I asked. Suddenly the sound of flapping wings came from the forest as a shadow swooped down above Shibuki scaring him again and landed on my shoulder.

"Hey there Guyver, 'sup?" I asked. Searching the body of my hawk, I noticed he had a message in his pouch.

"I see" I nodded, taking the little slip of paper out of the pouch "Don't worry there Shibuki, this is just my hawk Guyver" I explained.

"Hmm? Emergency assembly?" I questioned.

"You're leaving?" Shibuki asked.

"I have no choice, the other two can handle the clean up on their own" I said, standing up. "Oi, Sasuke, Naruto" I called.

"Nani? Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry but I have to go, emergency _jounin_ meeting in the village" I explained "You guys come home after your done, Guyver will be here if you need to call me" I announced.

"Got it" Sasuke nodded.

"Just leave everything to the future Hokage, Naruto-sama!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Guyver, you're in charge" I nodded to the bird as he flew off my shoulder and perched onto Sasuke's "If I can, I will be back later" I announced before I made a mad dash towards Konoha.

'_**Are you sure you can just leave them there?'**_

'_One clone is also left just in case, but I'm sure they'll be fine, despite the fact that there are few shinobi lurking around'_

'_**I hope so'**_

END POV

"How degrading for you guys, to be left in charge of a bird who is only an eighth your size" Ayumi sneered. Instantly Guyver glared at the woman.

"Guyver, just because Sakura is gone doesn't mean you can go on a killing spree" Sasuke commanded.

"Ano, what's Hokage?" the little girl asked.

"The Hokage is the strongest shinobi in Konoha, I guess you could say he is a real hero" Naruto explained.

"Or in the current situation, _she_ is a real hero" Sasuke added.

"So then Shibuki-sama is like her?" the boy asked.

"Shibuki?" Naruto questioned "Don't compare Shibuki to the Hokage, those two are on a completely different level" Naruto scoffed.

"Don't insult Shibuki-sama!" the little girl yelled.

"He may be a coward at times but he is the hero of the Hidden Fall Village!" the boy growled.

"He is very strong!" the girl shouted before pushing him forcefully.

--

"Man, we're finally finished" Naruto sighed in relief before his stomach rumbled "Ne, ne, it's a little early for lunch but let's eat" Naruto suggested.

"Eat else where!" Shibuki shouted.

"W-what?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Your job is done, go eat some where else" Shibuki shouted.

"Fine we will" Sasuke said.

"Nani?" Naruto gasped.

"The entrance is probably nearby, he probably doesn't want to show it to us, aside the fact the Fall and Leaf are allies" Sasuke explained.

"How do I know you won't betray our village?" Shibuki shouted.

"You're right" Sasuke nodded.

"Chotto matte! Sasuke-kun" Ayumi cried.

"How dare you talk like that!" Naruto shouted.

"What's up Guyver?" Sasuke whispered to the bird, noticing the birds clench and unclench continuously on his shoulder.

"Just leave already" Shibuki insisted.

"Tch! You don't have to tell me twice" Naruto huffed, stomping away.

"Bye, bye, Naruto-nii-chan" the little girl waved.

"Yea" Naruto waved.

"Kaa-chan" the girl shrieked, scaring Naruto as he lost his balance from the sudden scream. Turning around, Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened in horror as a woman with black hair came hobbling towards Shibuki with a lot of struggle in her step.

"Shibuki-sama, trouble" the woman gasped.

"Nani?" Shibuki gasped.

"Enemy attack!" the woman gagged before falling to the ground unconscious.

"Kaa-chan!" the girl cried as she ran towards her mother. Bending down towards the woman, the girl was shocked to see the pink haired girl back at the waterfall, already examining the woman.

"What the?" Sasuke muttered.

"Sakura-chan? Where did you come from?" Naruto gasped.

"I sensed other chakra in the area so I came back, I doubt all the jounins are back yet anyway, I'll make it in time before the meeting starts" Sakura explained as she began healing the wound.

"Kaa-chan" the girl cried.

"Don't worry, it isn't a serious injury, she'll come as good as new" Sakura smiled comforting the traumatized girl.

"Then we should return to the village" the little boy said hastily.

"No, that wouldn't be wise" Sakura shook her head.

"She said it was an enemy attack" Sasuke voiced.

"How? How could they have gotten into the Hidden Fall?" Shibuki gasped.

"Sasuke-kun help me!" Ayumi cried, clinging to the teen.

"Alright, I will take the kids and their mother, Ayumi you will stay with me, Sasuke, Naruto and Shibuki, go into the Hidden Fall and scout the area for any hostages. Do not come into contact with the enemy and do not separate. I repeat no contact of the enemy no separation-"

"No! I want to stay with Sasuke-kun!" Ayumi insisted.

"I have no time for such foolish behaviour right now Ayumi, we are going whether you like it or not. Guyver you follow them!" Sakura shouted before dragging Ayumi, the children and their mother deep into the forest.

"Well you heard her" Sasuke sighed.

"Shibuki, show us the entrance to the village!" Naruto ordered.

"Baka! Are you crazy? What could you do?" Shibuki sneered. Suddenly without realizing what was happening, Sasuke shoved both arguing males to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Naruto exclaimed, spitting the dirt out of his mouth.

"Stay down" Sasuke ordered as he ran towards the waterfall where four shinobi burst out. In an instant, Sasuke brought out a Fuuma Shuriken and threw it perfectly at the four airborne shinobi who threw a storm of kunai down upon the boy. As soon as the shuriken was let loose it bowled over the incoming shuriken before splitting in two and attacked the mysterious shinobi into the river, leaving one to escape.

"We have got to go, show us this entrance!" Naruto shouted.

"Fine" Shibuki sighed "Demo, I don't know how the bird is going to get through it"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"You'll see" Shibuki said as he guided them to the side of the waterfall.

"I see" Naruto said aloud as he examined the side of the waterfall to reveal an underwater system.

"Like I said, how is the bird going to get through this?" Shibuki sweatdropped. Suddenly the bird pulled something out of its leg pouch to reveal a small breathing device, and as if it was human, plucked it onto it self and dived straight into the water.

"As you can see, our team mate has trained her bird very well" Sasuke sweatdropped before following the lead of Guyver and jumping in after Shibuki who guided their way through the underwater system to the Hidden Fall village. Moments later the group of three and Guyver re-emerged from the water and glanced around the deserted village for any signs of enemy activity.

"Sugoi! This looks amazing!" Naruto exclaimed as he confirmed that no one was in the area. Glancing around suspiciously Sasuke stood up immediately and dragged the two other down into the water as another wave of kunai flew passed their heads. Glancing around, Sasuke stared wide eyed as brown feathers sailed down to the river while Guyver plummeted down at incredible speeds.

'_Shit, Sakura is going to kill me'_ Sasuke gasped inwardly as he swam quickly towards the bird. Suddenly a loud poof was heard as what was Guyver fell into the water creating a big splash. Glancing at where the bird was supposed to land, Sasuke released the breath he was holding as he realized that what was hit was just a log…wait a log? Sasuke twitched, he was worried about his death for nothing? Since when could birds use the 'Kawarimi no Jutsu'? Then again, if the bird can swim, why not use jutsus?

"Sasuke what the hell?" Naruto gasped.

"Get down and keep with Shibuki" Sasuke ordered as he jumped out of the water and began fighting with the enemy.

"Shibuki, let's-" Naruto paused as he looked around the lake. Shibuki was no where to be found "Nani? When did he go? Where did he go?" Naruto gasped as he dived back under the water in search of the Fall leader.

--

Sasuke cursed to himself, here he was this great and powerful Uchiha, with so much power he could kill a nation, and yet he was tied up like cattle on the shrine post of the village as a hostage, like so many other people around him who were on the ground. Struggling to break free, Sasuke paused for a moment as one of his capturers began to talk.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, those are wires, and provoked enough, will cut your arms in half" he sneered before turning away and leaving the Uchiha to his own devices.

"Eh? You got another set of hostages?" the woman sneered, she was wearing a long sleeved blue top that showed her stomach and white shorts.

"Yea, the ones from before" the man snickered as he dumped a net full of people onto the ground. Taking a quick glance over the people, Sasuke's eyes widened as he recognized they were the kids from before and Sakura, Ayumi was shivering in fear and the woman wasn't even awake, but what scared Sasuke the most was the incredible calmness of the blossom as she sat down and waited to be tied up like cattle like the rest of the hostages. Her eyes were dull and lifeless; something was up with the blossom of his team, further more, how could _she_ of all people have been captured, and none the less it looked so easy since she was without bruises or dirt, not even a tiny scratch up her arm, which meant either she came willingly or she was brought unconsciously, because even Ayumi and the children had some scratches on them.

'_What's she up to?'_ Sasuke pondered watching the new hostages being tied up similar to him.

"Oi, Shibuki, I know you're around here some where, why don't you come out now and save your villagers?" the leader sneered as he grabbed a hold of the little girl from before and drew a kunai to her neck.

"Stop! Leave the children alone, take the adults!" one of the hostages cried.

"Tch, Shibuki has always had a soft spot for children that's why they work so well" the leader sneered "Come on out now Shibuki"

"Leave the children out of this!" a voice ordered from above. Averting their gaze, some how, Sasuke wasn't at all surprised to find Naruto on one of the highest branches in all his loud glory. Looking over to his pink haired team mate, he noticed she hadn't even spared a glance at the blonde boy and in fact just continued to stare into the direction of the lake, as if waiting for something, turning his attention to the lake, Sasuke could find nothing that screamed suspicious, and so the only ting he could do was raise a curious eyebrow at the girl who failed to notice it, which was odd since she always noticed everything, and I mean _everything_.

It seemed like everything hit the fast forward button as Naruto was beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die after he was tied up like any other hostage. Again, the leader brought the girl towards him and drew the kunai closer to her neck, the young girl was shaking, obviously scared with tears pouring by the bucket load down her rosy cheeks. Again, as if in fast forward mode, Shibuki came done, with his chakra quite visible as he proclaimed to be the one saving the village before he was tossed aside like old rags, even with the power boost, he had fought pathetically, though, in Sasuke's eyes, he was an amazing fighter when the courage in him sparked. It turned out the leader was his sensei previously, meaning he was their way into the village, which also sparked a little power in Shibuki as he tried to protect his village.

'_We are so screwed'_ Sasuke sighed as he watched the evil man guzzle down a bottle of water which was claimed to be 'hero water' and amplified a person's chakra by ten times at least. Turning to his team mates, Sasuke's breath hitched as he watched the emotionless Sakura form an evil smirk.

"Geez, I leave you guys for two hours and look what you've gotten your self into" a voice sighed from above the tree tops. Eyes averted their gaze, everyone started wide eyed in awe as they saw a replica of the pink haired girl on the tree branch Naruto was on only a few minutes ago in a rather bored fashion with her back leaning against the trunk, one foot propped up leaning on the trunk as well and arms crossed. A bored expression plastered it self on the girl's face as she watched the scene below her. Sitting next to her was Guyver, glaring down at the Fall traitors.

"Good thing Guyver came to get me and the meeting ended quickly" Sakura sighed. Suddenly the Fall kunoichi appeared behind her before throwing a kunai towards her, hitting her straight in the back. Instantly upon contact, Sakura exploded into a rain of cherry blossoms like the one on the ground and the real Sakura gave the woman a chakra infused kick, sending her straight back to the ground.

"S-Sakura-chan…" Naruto gasped.

"Sorry to interrupt your little charade but I'm going to have to ask you to leave now, the villagers obviously don't want to see you here" Sakura ordered.

"We aren't going to stop our plans just because you asked us to" the leader scoffed.

"Of course" Sakura nodded, bowing mockingly before an entire root system trapped all four Fall traitors and their accomplices together.

"W-hat…w-who are you?" the leader gasped.

"Just some one who asked you to leave the village, now go" Sakura ordered as the roots pulled them under ground while the earth it self closed up, ignoring the traitor nins cries for help.

"S-Sakura-chan…what did you do? Did you bury them alive?" Naruto gasped.

"No, I'm not that cruel, they'll pop up some where else with severe injuries" Sakura shrugged, cutting the rope that held Sasuke in place and them cutting Naruto's rope and healing them.

"W-when did you switch for the clone?" Naruto asked.

"Before I left you lot, my clone was waiting in the bushes just in case" Sakura explained.

"Then why not tell us?" Sasuke asked.

"Because the enemies were already near by, I sensed them while you were playing garbage man" Sakura smirked.

"Why not tell us that before?" Naruto cried.

"Didn't want to alert the enemy and know that I was already onto them, I was waiting for what they were going to do" Sakura explained.

"Then the jounin meeting was a hoax?" Sasuke asked.

"No, I did go to the meeting, but it wasn't as 'emergency' as Tsunade had put it" Sakura sighed.

"Is that why Guyver stayed?" Sasuke asked.

"I put him in control for a reason" Sakura sneered "Anyway, come on, let's go" Sakura announced, disappearing from sight and down the waterfall like Guyver.

"Come on Naruto, we had better go before we lose her" Sasuke sighed.

"Hai" Naruto nodded.

--

"Sakura-chan, chotto matte" Naruto cried as he chased after the blossom who was moving through the forest at incredibly fast rates. He was still tired from the battle in Fall, but Sakura was expecting him to move as fast as her. Admittedly, she was stronger, so much that she literally didn't lift a finger, and yes, Naruto didn't like it one bit, it was an ego thing and he had just taken a big hit today from being reminded that he was only chuunin while Sakura was jounin, and not only that but she took a minute to finish the Fall traitors and get back out of there, while still making an awesome entrance. It just wasn't fair, and now here she was, speeding through the forest like no tomorrow, heck sometimes he wondered if they should put specific speeds in different places just so he could keep up with her, because damn if there were speed limits, she would definitely be off the charts!

"Oi, Sakura, slow down a little" Sasuke shouted. Sakura didn't listen as she kept on look out for something.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, what are you looking for?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing, just keeping alert" Sakura answered as her gaze continually shifted from left to right to front to back and above and below.

'_**I think they're coming again'**_

'_Aa'_

'_**What are you going to do?'**_

"Pick up the pace, you guys are to slow" Sakura shouted as she started moving at an even quicker pace, rushing through the forest like a scared rabbit, only she wasn't scared.

"Chotto matte Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined. Without hesitation, Sakura paused momentarily as Sasuke and Naruto caught up to her on the branch she was standing on. It seemed as soon as they landed one foot onto the branch Sakura took a hold of them and began making a mad dash towards Konoha. It seemed like within a matter of minutes that the three arrived in front of Konoha as Sakura dropped Naruto and Sasuke wordlessly onto the ground and made her way towards the Hokage office. It seemed like a couple of seconds before the girl arrived into the Hokage's office dropped off the mission report wordlessly and was out, vanishing into thin air, literally.

--

"Remind me again why I am on this mission?" Sakura sighed.

"They needed a medic, and so I am placing you on this team for the time being, this time there are really no medics around that are available" Tsunade explained.

"And when is it?" Sakura asked.

"A couple of days from now" Tsunade said.

"I see, well I had better finish my other mission first then" Sakura bowed before disappearing out of the Hokage office.

--

"Okay, so let me get this straight. First, we are helping Suna, and Gaara, despite the fact that not too long ago he actually tried to destroy the village; second we are called as backup to help Gaara retrieve his student who was caught as a hostage, and third, who the hell left him in charge of teaching?! Isn't he Kazekage?" Sakura growled "And Fourth, some random person claimed to be stronger and wants to fight Gaara?"

"Yes" Shikamaru nodded

"Then why in the hell am I going when it has nothing to do with our village to begin with?" Sakura growled.

"A treaty got you into it" Tsunade sighed.

"Did I ever sign this so called treaty?" Sakura glared.

"Technically as a shinobi, you did" Tsunade retorted.

"Further more why does it take _twelve_ people to do this?! Plus another three from Suna?!" Sakura snarled.

"Most of the people here are chuunin remember, besides the area we are travelling in you know well" Shikamaru sighed.

"Right, so I'm just here as a medic and because I know the terrain?" Sakura asked to confirm.

"You are also team captain" Tsunade said.

"No" Sakura growled.

"No?" Tsunade repeated.

"No, I am not being team captain! Get Neji or Shikamaru to do it!" Sakura glared.

"There are many things in life you will hate, you can add this one to the list" Tsunade chirped.

"Fine, team meet at the gates in two hundred hours, if your not there sharp, I will leave you behind" Sakura announced before storming out of the room, slamming the door in the process.

"Tsunade-baa-chan, Sakura-chan is very angry" Naruto shuddered "What'd you do to make her so angry?"

"Why do you think it was me?" Tsunade asked, offended he would accuse her.

"Because she doesn't really talk to anyone else" Sasuke said.

"Oh…well, I may have been the source of anger, but because of the current flow of missions, I've had to put her on many team missions, much to her dismay, and further more, since she resigned from Team Kakashi, she had been doing more missions with you guys than she would want" Tsunade explained.

"I see, so basically she's annoyed because she's not getting what she requested?" Kiba sneered.

"Well, actually a majority of her missions are solo missions, but with team missions it's usually always with team Kakashi, since they are very fussy about which medic they receive, which is the team she did resign from. Most of the time when some one resigns from a team they never really work with that team again…however…with her…well…" Tsunade sweatdropped.

"Holdup! She resigned from Team Kakashi?" Naruto exclaimed.

"She's been resigned from your team for about five months now" Tsunade sighed.

"Tsunade-sama was supposed to tell you but because she was drunk at the time she didn't tell you properly, and well, she really didn't tell you at all" Shizune sweatdropped.

"I see" Naruto sighed.

--

"Gomen nasai! I was eating at Ichiraku ramen" Naruto explained as he ran towards the small group of chuunins and jounin. Looking at the people, Naruto paused when he realized all the people at the mission briefing yesterday weren't there.

"Ano sa, ano sa, where is Sakura-chan, Neji, Hinata-chan and Shino?" Naruto asked. In front of him was Shikamaru, a steaming Chouji, Kiba, an annoyed Sasuke, Lee and Ino.

"You went to Ichiraku ramen by yourself?!" Chouji exclaimed.

"Sakura left Shikamaru in charge and went ahead with the other people you said" Ino explained.

"Nani?" Naruto mumbled.

"Sakura left ahead of us since you were late. She, Neji, Hinata and Shino will be scouting the area for enemies, the only contact they will have with us are Shino's bugs and her bird. They are on a different route searching while we take the direct route" Shikamaru explained.

"What was she thinking, that's a waste of combat power" Kiba scoffed.

"On the contrary, even though they are only scouting, they have the power to defeat any enemy they come across with easy, and Sakura has gone with them as medical support. Since she is team captain, we have no power to over throw her. When we find the Suna nins we help them. Her orders were for us to leave as soon as Naruto got here and the mission was explained to him. Since we have no idea of what is ahead of us, Sakura said we are to travel in pairs and working individually is prohibited, I think some how she knew Naruto was going to be late" Shikamaru explained.

"Demo, there's seven of us" Naruto frowned.

"Which is why Sakura also left instructions on who is with who" Ino sighed.

"I am working with Ino, Sasuke, Chouji and Kiba are working together which leaves Lee and Naruto. She said something about not letting Sasuke and Naruto in one group because they argue too much and would give away a position" Shikamaru explained "Ok, you guys got it?" Shikamaru asked. Although Sasuke and Naruto looked slightly peeved they nodded before they dispersed and began charging into the forest in the formation Sakura had told them to go in.

"What's the mission called?" Naruto asked.

"As much as Sakura hated, she left the name as 'Team return a favour'" Shikamaru explained.

"How lame" Ino and Naruto muttered in unison.

"It was the only name Sakura could think of at the time since Lee and Kiba were bugging her, besides a few years back with a _certain_ incident Sand helped us out and so we are returning the favour" Shikamaru said.

"I see" Naruto nodded.

--

"Guyver, turn south west at an angle of 29.9 degrees and scout the area for twenty metres will you, I think I heard something from that direction" Sakura ordered before creating two clones that were sent into two opposite directions of the travelling group to scout the area. Obeying Sakura's commands, Guyver flew in the exact direction Sakura told him to and scouted the area silently. With his sharp eyes, he wouldn't miss a thing.

--

"Oi, Shikamaru why'd you stop?" Naruto asked.

"We are stopping here for the moment" Shikamaru announced.

"Nani? Stopping here? What for? We don't have time to waste!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Shut up dobe" Sasuke scoffed.

"I'm not a dobe teme!" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto just be quite, this is part of Sakura-chan's plan" Ino sighed.

"Shikamaru is just following her orders" Kiba sighed.

"They're right Naruto, you have to follow Co-captain and Captain's lead" Chouji said.

"Even if we don't like the fact Sakura has been put Captain" Kiba muttered quietly to himself.

"I got it" Naruto pouted.

--

"He's found them?" Neji muttered, his eyes following the buzzing bug that flew past him "Byakugan" Neji muttered as he turned on his bloodline trait, seeing what not many others could. Searching the forest with his Byakugan on Neji easily found Temari and another woman fighting, while Kankuro and some kid were fighting.

"This way?" Hinata muttered, running along with the swarm of insects "Byakugan" Hinata shouted quietly as her bloodline trait turned on, revealing that Gaara was fighting against a rather large macho man.

"The found them?" Sakura questioned Shino.

"…" Shino seemed to nod.

"Very well then" Sakura nodded before she brought out a long silver whistle and blew on it, creating an ear piercing sound that only very few would have been able to hear. In an instant Guyver was on Sakura's shoulder and waiting instructions "Guyver, find the other team and report with Shino's bugs" Sakura ordered, putting a message in his pouch before the bird flew off, backing up the distance Sakura and the rest did.

--

"Just what are we waiting for?" Naruto sighed. Suddenly a swarm of bugs came slithering out of the forest trees and advanced towards the group in the trees while Guyver flew hastily, landing on Sasuke's shoulder.

"That is what we are waiting for" Shikamaru smirked "Report is here, let's see it" Shikamaru announced. Noticing the small slip of paper in the bird's pouch, Sasuke took out the paper and read the message inside it, waiting for the bugs report before saying what Sakura said. Watching the bugs move into a small pattern, Shikamaru stared wide eyed.

"Damn, it's already started, this is bad" Shikamaru cursed "Oi, Sasuke, what did Sakura say?" Shikamaru asked.

"Battle's started. Kiba and Chouji go to the western forest to aid Kankuro. Naruto and Lee are to take the Northwest forest and aid Gaara. Ino and Shikamaru take Northern hill and aid Temari, Sasuke, follow Guyver" Sasuke read.

"You heard the orders" Shikamaru sighed "Let's go" Shikamaru ordered. In an instant the Konoha Shinobi dispersed and went to where Sakura had assigned them.

--

"Who are you?!" a man with blue hair and green eyes shouted as Kiba and Akamaru intercepted his attack, saving Kankuro.

--

"Who are you?!" A woman exclaimed. She had aqua green hair with two yellow streaks at the front and brown eyes, glaring at the two (Shikamaru and Ino) who stopped her from killing Temari.

"Allies of Suna" Shikamaru and Ino smirked in unison.

--

"Konoha" Chouji and Kiba smirked.

--

"Shinobi" Naruto and Lee proclaimed as they landed onto the battle field where Gaara was getting the hell beaten out of him.

--

"Neji, Hinata, Shino! Something is with the locations of where the battles are taking place, split up and search! Stay hidden, only offer assistance if absolutely necessary" Sakura ordered before all three said shinobi dispersed leaving Sakura to her own devices.

Bringing out the small whistle from before, Sakura blew into it playing a series of different beats. The first one was long and hollow then two short ones followed by another long one which lasted for ten seconds followed by another two beats. A pause went in between them and again blew, repeating the same sequence as before. Putting the whistle away Sakura ran towards the presumed centre of the three battles.

--

"So you're the Konoha back up?" Temari smirked.

"A girl saved a guy, I just can't leave it like that" Shikamaru scoffed.

"Of course, always so obnoxious about girls and guys huh?" Temari sneered "Gaara and Kankuro went after the ones with the village girl" Temari explained "I'm fine here, go to the others"

"Our Captain has already given us the order to stay and help out; the other two have got back up anyway, two man cells have been divided amongst them" Ino shrugged.

"You're well prepared" Temari noted.

"Our _Captain_ is well prepared" Ino said.

"Besides if we weren't, our Captain would have our heads" Shikamaru shrugged "If we are going to do this, we are going to do it properly; this time there will be no victims"

"Let's see if you can last long enough this time without crying" Temari sneered.

"You sure remember things that are way in the past" Shikamaru scoffed. Ino and Temari chuckled in unison.

"Tch, I'll settle for both of you!" the woman proclaimed as she drew her swords up and created a massive whirlwind, blowing Ino and Shikamaru off balance.

--

"Haha, to ask for assistance from Konoha, Sand must be getting mighty weak" the blue haired man cackled.

"Why are you here?" Kankuro muttered.

"Roof, roof!" Akamaru barked.

"That's how dogs are, they won't stop until the favour is returned, especially Akamaru" Kiba explained.

"I guess I can't stop the favour" Kankuro sighed as he stood up.

"There are other lot going to Gaara and Temari, focus on this fight" Kiba declared.

"Tch, that's pretty cheeky of you guys" Kankuro smirked.

"So garbage has come to attack me eh? No matter, you guys are no match for my sword" the blue haired man proclaimed as he began attacking the two leaf and sand shinobi.

--

"What are they planning?" Sakura muttered as she watched the man carrying the sand hostage jump onto the tallest tree in the tree, scouting the area it would seem. Averting her attention to the sound of rustling leaves, Sakura stared almost wide eyed as Gaara rose from the forest on a plat form of sand before his sand hand began flinging some one around effortlessly.

'_Was I wrong to send Naruto and Lee to Gaara?'_

'_**No, he will need back up soon, even the Ultimate weapon will need help eventually'**_

'_Right'_

"As expected of 'Gaara of the sand'" the man atop of the trees complimented "That is to be expected for the Ultimate weapon"

"Ultimate weapon?" the girl questioned.

"But he won't be able to withstand the power of the weapons of the Takumi Village" the man proclaimed.

"Weapons of Takumi?" Sakura muttered "What on earth?"

"Oi Sakura-"

"Sshh!" Sakura hushed. Understanding what she meant Sasuke nodded before she let go of his mouth.

"What's happening?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm not too sure; they're talking about some powerful weapon of the Takumi Village. I don't know what it is but for now we stay hidden and pick up on any bits of information, stay in the middle of the fights; I have this feeling we are going to need to stay here" Sakura explained in a low voice.

"Ok" Sasuke nodded.

"Oi, where's Guyver?" Sakura asked.

"I haven't got the slightest clue, I followed him here and then he just disappeared" Sasuke explained, fearing what might happen if she got angry that she lost her travelling companion.

"I see, good!" Sakura nodded.

"Nani?" Sasuke asked.

"Guyver is doing exactly what I want him to do" Sakura said "Hmm…" Sakura pondered, her eyes diverting in the direction of each battle.

"Hn?" Sasuke grunted.

"Something's not right" Sakura muttered.

'_Is something happening around here?'_

'_**I can't sense anything, but I know what you mean something is about to happen'**_

'_Hmm...Gaara's doing fine on his own, something's a miss'_

'_**Yea, something's a real miss-'**_

"Hehe, but you're already in the palm of our hands" the man above the tree tops cackled.

"Nani?" Sakura muttered watching the man bring out his sword that deflected the sunlight's heat waves. Suddenly the sound of flapping wings echoed through the forest as Guyver landed on the pink haired girl's shoulder.

"What is it Guyver?" Sakura asked, staring into the black eyes of the brown feathered hawk. Suddenly Sakura gasped.

"Nani?" Sasuke whispered.

"The enemies the others are fighting are retreating" Sakura said.

"And you got that all out of a look in Guyver's eyes?" Sasuke questioned.

"Like you said, my skills keep increasing" Sakura sneered.

"Behold the terror of the Takumi village's newest weapon!" the man declared as he shot it up into the air before stabbing into the ground below him.

"What in the world?" Sakura muttered.

--

"What's this chakra?" Neji gasped as he looked around the forest, revealing that the people versing the other Konoha shinobi were bubbling with unprofaned chakra and their swords were dug into the ground in an upright position.

'_A waterway? I see, the lines connecting the triangle aren't a barrier at all, it's a waterway'_ Neji realized.

--

"Ningu Kekkei, Gyakuun Roku no Jin! Activate!" the man who was above the trees a second ago chanted; bring his hands into the seal of the tiger.

"Ninja weapons barrier? Jin's good twist of fate? Nani?" Sakura muttered.

"What the hell is happening?" Sasuke exclaimed as the ground began to rumble before green lines came together, meeting in the middle where Gaara stood.

"This was all planned from the start" Sakura cursed hitting the tree next to her lightly.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm such an idiot!" Sakura cursed. Suddenly a water dragon traveled the length of Gaara's sand column hitting right smack in the face and knocking him off the high platform.

'_Kuso' _Sakura cursed as she watched Gaara fall to the ground.

"Jin's good twist of fate's target was only Gaara from the start" the man sneered "Swiftly following his chakra, it will call upon a water dragon, the sand will soak up the water and then he will no longer be able to his sand"

"Kuso!" Sakura growled _'I'm in too far range for my abilities to work! I would have no idea what's separated from what! Gaara is in deep shit!'_

--

Landing on the wet sand, Gaara tried to control his sand to realize it was far too heavy to be used much leave do any damage on anyone. Instantly a square shaped maze came flying towards Gaara only to be kicked by orange leg warmers.

"Hehe! The hero always show up the last minute correct?" Lee smirked, giving his famous teeth shine to Gaara.

"That's right!" Naruto proclaimed as he kicked Gaara's opponent over the head and knocked him to the ground.

"Naruto" Gaara muttered.

"I came to pay you back for last time, that's why we call dibs on that guy" Naruto claimed pointing to the fallen opponent "You go save your student" Naruto nodded. Nodding in understanding, Gaara stood up only to fall back on his back.

"For you to be weakened at such a state, this guy must be powerful" Lee gasped.

"Lee!" Sakura shouted as she ran up to Lee and Gaara.

"Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun" Lee exclaimed.

"You continue this fight, we have a hostage to save" Sakura said.

"Hai" Lee nodded as he left Gaara in the blossom's care.

"Be careful, his armour absorbs chakra" Gaara warned.

"Absorbs chakra?" Sakura questioned.

'_**Haven't we heard that some where before?**_

'_Yea…what was it again?'_

"Gaara, come on" Sakura ordered as she dragged the Kazekage away, healing him at the same time.

'_Is this that girl from before?'_ Gaara questioned watching her heal and run at the same time. Suddenly the pair came to a halt as Sasuke stopped behind them, in front of them was a swarm of bugs showing a message.

"Nani? That stupid girl!" Sakura cursed "Gaara, you should be fine now, if possible rest for a moment, I have got to go be a medic, Sasuke stay with Gaara, you two are to work as a pair" Sakura ordered before rushing off behind the bugs.

"Nani? Gaara go save your student!" Naruto yelled as Gaara and Sasuke began running back towards the battle field.

"I will once I have finished here" Gaara proclaimed.

--

"Is everyone safe here?" Sakura asked as she ran into the ending battle field of Temari, Shikamaru and Ino.

"It would seem we're even" Temari giggled.

"In battle yes, in other matters no" Shikamaru smirked "It has been a while since we talked you know" Shikamaru sneered.

"Oi, this is your captain speaking, what's the situation?" Sakura growled.

"Oh, right, Ino's hurt, and the enemy is defeated" Shikamaru said.

"Right" Sakura nodded and began healing Ino immediately. In a matter of seconds, Ino was healed to be as good as new and stood up with Sakura.

"Alright, I want you to find Gaara. He's with Sasuke and is going after the hostage, make sure the hostage is saved and then you may do whatever you want with the guys" Sakura ordered before disappearing off into thin smoke, presumably to check on the other teams.

--

"We did it" Kiba smirked.

"Roof!" Akamaru seemed to smile a dog like grin.

"You guys alright?" Sakura asked as she landed on the tree branch in front of Akamaru.

"Hai!" the all nodded.

"Good, then, let's move to the valley, that's where Gaara should be heading, I will double back and make sure no one is left behind and injured" Sakura ordered before zooming past the three males and towards the various battle areas.

--

"Byakugan!" Hinata exclaimed "He has the enemy trapped" Hinata analysed.

--

"Lee, let's go" Sakura ordered as she finished healing him and ran towards the valley she had already ordered the other shinobi to go to, without sparing a glance Sakura raced forward leaving leave in the care of Guyver how happened to be flying around at the time.

--

"Naruto report" Shikamaru ordered as he, Ino and Temari hoped onto the battle field.

"Hostage is free and I told to go hide. Gaara is battling the dude with the weird get up and is struggling" Naruto said.

"I see" Shikamaru nodded. Averting his gaze towards the man, Shikamaru's eyes widened as he saw the man before him. He had a lion-type head chest plate, three blue tails and various amounts of different swords.

"But he seems to be having trouble battling, despite the fact Sakura healed him" Sasuke also added.

"Hurry up and use the Shukaku's power!" the man ordered.

"Oi you! I'm not afraid of an unarmed guy!" Naruto proclaimed as he lunged towards the opposing shinobi, saving Gaara from almost certain doom.

"Who the hell are you?" the man spat.

"From now on, I am your opponent" Naruto shouted.

"And if that's not enough, you still have to defeat us" Sasuke sneered.

"We still need to even up the scores after all" Shikamaru smirked.

'Tch! You're just annoying brats! Kujaku Senpuu!" the man shouted, thrusting his sword into the air creating another massive whirlwind, tossing the Konoha shinobi aside like they were paper bags.

"Kuso" Naruto cursed.

"Behold Konoha shinobi, your rule as one of the five nations will soon come to an end. Not only that, the most powerful weapon of the Takumi village will be complete! There will no longer be a need for ninja power" the man proclaimed.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto shouted.

"We are from the Takumi village, providing the five nations with weaponry and tools for years, but because of the rising fear of being over taking, the Takumi village was raided and all the weapons were destroyed and demolished, the shinobi nations almost instantly forgot who was responsible from supplying them with weapons. Despite the fact we have an array of powerful jutsus we are constantly begging other nations for help! However, that time will soon end and Konoha will be the first to go!" the Takumi shinobi declared.

--

"Now I remember" Sakura gasped.

'_The Takumi village supplied the other nations with weapons and tools, however, one day because the other nations feared that the village would turn on them and weapons would be handed out freely, the Takumi village was raided constantly and without a choice the had to seek help from other nations to keep alive. But in secret, for a while they have been developing some new ultimate weapon or something to get revenge and become the controller of the shinobi nations, but to use their weapon, they need a great source of chakra, which they are getting from Gaara right now'_

'_**Gee, great another lot who want to rule the world and take control'**_

'_Aa'_

Watching Naruto battle against the Takumi shinobi, Sakura couldn't help but sigh at the hopeless dodging on Naruto's behalf, it was all he could do for now. Suddenly flames burst from behind Naruto, following him where ever he went. Cursing to herself, Sakura instantly put out the flames while the enemy shinobi began attack Naruto again with his blue tails which turned into three crystal dragons. Cursing at his misfortune, a wall of earth rose from the ground, blacking the incoming attack and saving Naruto from any damage.

"What the hell?" the man screeched as he searched the battle field to find out that no one had supposedly triggered the earth to move, not even Gaara who was still breathing rapidly.

"Bastard" the Takumi ninja cursed before throwing a metal disk over the top of Gaara which converted into a metal cage.

'_This needs to end'_ Sakura cursed before disappearing from any one's sight again.

"Finally, all we need is the Shukaku's power" the Takumi shinobi cackled.

"Oi you leave Gaara alone!" Naruto shouted.

"Kuso! Where's Sakura?" Shikamaru cursed.

"Now it's time to complete this" the man declared as he moved his hands into a sequence ready to perform his jutsu. Suddenly the cage that held Gaara, started glowing a bright blue, indicating that there was a large mass of chakra being absorbed from it. Suddenly an eerie screeched of pain erupted from inside the cage, indicating that Gaara was having his chakra taken from him forcefully. Instantly, rock off the cliff face crumbled to reveal an old white coffin which moved from out of the rock and onto the ground, opening up to reveal and very gory corpse dressed in a white robe with a long white beard.

"Oh Seimei-sama! I offer you my body as a container for your great arrival!" the man proclaimed. Suddenly the man disappeared into thin air leaving only his armour to remain.

"What the hell? He just disappeared" Temari gasped. Inside the coffin a bright light glowed before fading out to reveal the former corpse inside awakening.

"What in the world? The corpse is walking again! It's alive" Ino shrieked.

"My name is Seimei; I am the founder of the Takumi village. After one hundred years I have returned to become the Ultimate weapon" the white face man proclaimed in a monotone voice before he combined him self wordlessly with the armour left behind by the Takumi shinobi.

"What in the world?" Naruto gasped.

Suddenly the corpse began cackling, as if he had seen the funniest thing on earth. Turning his gaze the corpse smirked "I see, so they used the Shukaku's power to power my revive"

"We have to get him out of there before he loses consciousness!" Temari exclaimed.

"If he loses consciousness, the beast inside of him will awaken!" Kankuro gasped as he jumped from out of the forest and into the valley with Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru at his side.

"But how are we supposed to get him?" Naruto cursed as he was flung back by Seimei after jumping onto the cage "The dome is unbreakable" Naruto exclaimed as he charged towards the dome again.

"Last time he lost control it takes a hell of a lot to stop him; I was shocked Sakura was able to break him out of the perfect form!" Kankuro explained.

"Speaking of Sakura, where the hell is she?" Kiba growled.

"I can't afford to waste any more time, the real fun is about to begin" Seimei smirked blowing flames onto the dome, shooting Naruto off the dome.

"Itai!" Naruto exclaimed as he put out the flames on his shirt before he started digging at the ground.

"He's persistent" Seimei noted "Give up already" Seimei ordered before sending Naruto flying with gust of wind.

"We have to step in here" Shikamaru shouted.

"Hai" Chouji and Ino nodded.

"Wait" Sasuke muttered.

"Nani?" Kiba growled.

"Look" Sasuke pointed to Seimei who looked like he was experiencing an extreme amount of pain.

"What the hell?!" Seimei exclaimed as he kicked the metal dome off the ground. Looking where the dome was, Seimei's eyes widened when he realized that Gaara was no longer in the dome, and the only person in the dome was Sakura who was sitting in a rather bored fashion, smirking.

"Who did Sakura-chan get in there?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Where's the Shukaku?!" Seimei shouted.

"Tch, how does it feel to know from here on out your plans won't work?" Sakura smirked.

"Nani?" Seimei gasped.

"Gaara, you may finish him off" Sakura smirked "He can't move any where anyway"

"What the?" Seimei muttered as he looked around the battle field. Opposite to the Sakura who was in the dome there was another one, and then two more clones, making a complete square. Coming from each Sakura were black markings of different intricate patterns linking up into the centre where Seimei floated, attaching themselves to him.

"Think of this as a rendition of a puppet master's jutsu, with a mix of your jutsu and Shikamaru's jutsu" Sakura smirked. Nodding in understanding, Gaara brought is hand up into the air and made it look like he was holding something. Slowly stand particles made their way to Gaara's hand, creating a very long sand like spear.

"Saikon Zettai Hougeki. Shukaku no Houkou!" Gaara exclaimed as he moved into a position to throw the sand weapon towards Seimei. In a matter of seconds Gaara threw the weapon, hitting Seimei straight in the centre of his lion head armour.

"W-why? Why are you…" Seimei gasped.

"Some one like you wouldn't understand if you merely see a person as a weapon" Gaara glared.

"I don't understand! How? HOW?!" Seimei cried as he fell to the ground limp.

"Sakura" Gaara muttered.

"Hmm? Of course" Sakura smirked. Instantly the ground opened up like a mouth as Seimei fell in before it chomped him up like a piece of meat. As the whole closed on Seimei, green particles lifted from the earth and dispersed like sand carried by wind.

"YOSH! They won!" Naruto cheered; running towards Gaara who was standing like a statue.

"Gaara-sensei won!" the girl cheered following Naruto's lead and raced towards Gaara. Without an invitation the remaining spectators ran towards Gaara, in relief that he was safe. Suddenly without warning, Gaara fell to the ground.

"Gaara!" Naruto gasped.

"It's alright, he's just tired from using so much chakra in one hit" Sakura said, standing up from where she was on the rock "By the way, Kakashi, Jiraya, you can hop off the rock now" Sakura shouted, bored looking.

"Geez, we come all the way here to find you and you guys are already done" Kakashi sighed as he and Jiraya followed Sakura's order.

"I guess that means you squirts are improving a little ne?" Jiraya chuckled.

"What do you think we have been doing?!" Naruto shouted.

"Alright, mission complete" Sakura said "You guys head back to Konoha with the sand shinobi and Kakashi and Jiraya" Sakura ordered.

"Nani? What about you?" Ino asked.

"Got another mission to complete" Sakura said "Guyver has already gone to Tsunade with the mission report. You guys return to leaf and rest" Sakura repeated.

"Hai" Ino and Naruto nodded.

"Well, ja ne" Sakura waved and began running towards Mist for her next mission at amazing speeds.

"Well you heard her, let's start going back home" Shikamaru sighed.

--

"Aaaahhhh!!!" Sakura shouted as she kicked back her opponent who was trying to get a valuable scroll off her.

"Damn that bitch" the man cursed as he slowly stood up, moist dirt covering his body while the canopy from above covered both peoples' heads.

"Listen here little girl, just give us the scroll and we will leave you alone" A man threatened.

"Come up with a better threat" Sakura scoffed before vines wrapped around both men's bodies, holding them in place before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Guyver to dispose of them how he pleased…

--

"Nani?" Sakura sighed "All this trouble for a scroll half the size of my hand?" Sakura grumbled.

'_Well at least this mission is finished and we can back to training'_

'_**Yea'**_

Suddenly the girl paused. Looking around her surroundings with a scrutinizing eye, Sakura glared for a second before pulling out the long whistle. Blowing quickly on the whistle, Guyver flew down from the direction of Konoha in a matter of seconds and landed on her out stretched arm.

"Guyver, take the scroll to Tsunade ne?" Sakura smiled. Guyver seemed to nod as he received the scroll before flying off again.

"It has been a while since I have seen any of your kind" Sakura sneered. Instantly two men in black cloaks jumped out of the forest and glared at the girl. On the cloaks there were red clouds and on their heads were straw hats with paper attached around the brim, hiding their faces.

"It would seem it has been a while Sakura-san un" one of the men spoke.

"I guess since you haven't gone running off yet for the scroll I had, you're after something else? Correct Deidara? Tobi?" Sakura questioned.

"Tobi is a good boy" Tobi chirped.

"I'm sure you know what we want un" Deidara glared.

"Of course" Sakura seemed to bow mockingly "Well, let's see you try" Sakura challenged before she disappeared into a cloud of cherry blossoms.

"Of course, let's begin un" Deidara smirked before bringing out a clay sculpture and exploding it to reveal a large white bird.

'_Isn't it usually one Akatsuki member per demon? Didn't Deidara already pick Gaara and the Shukaku (which he failed at)?'_ Sakura cursed.

'_**Last time wasn't it the Suna missing Nin and his partner and the time before that Itachi and Kisame?'**_

'_Yea it was, it seems they all want a piece of me, I don't know whether to be flattered or not'_

"You can make this a whole lot easier on all of us if you just give up un" Deidara spat.

"I don't think so" Sakura scoffed "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" Sakura muttered before four Sakura clones were made and separated into five different paths.

"Kuso un" Deidara cursed.

--

"This is becoming more and more troublesome" Sakura sighed as she entered the Konoha gates. She was slightly battered and bruised but nothing a quick chakra heal-up couldn't fix. Numerous times while battling Deidara and Tobi she had been caught by their jutsus and weapons upon chance and because of slight carelessness, she had come out on the wrong end. Especially when Deidara used his explosives, which didn't end comfortably, especially being right in the middle of the blast, had she not moved earth up to protect her, she was sure that there would only be two Harunos left now.

"Sakura-chan" Naruto exclaimed as he glomped the girl who just stepped one foot onto Konoha soil. Behind him was Sasuke, Hinata, Neji, Tenten, Ino, Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, Chouji, Lee and Shino walking up to Naruto and Sakura.

"Hello Naruto" Sakura sighed "And the rest"

"How was the mission?" Tenten asked.

"Perfect, absolutely perfect" Sakura grumbled with a hell of a lot of sarcasm in her tone.

"What happened? Guyver came back before you did" Neji asked.

"Some bunch of rogue ninja were after the scroll or something, I got Guyver to take it back for me while I dealt with the shinobi" Sakura answered. Truth: she did battle _rogue_ ninjas and got Guyver to take the scroll back, hidden truth: the so called _rogue_ ninjas were part of the Akatsuki, not a good group to get mixed up with.

"I see" Ino nodded.

"Well, if you'll excuse me" Sakura waved again before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

--

"Mission complete" Sakura announced as she calmly walked into the Godaime's office without bothering to even knock this time.

"Well done Sakura-chan, that's a new record for you, four hours" the blonde woman smiled, receiving the scroll and the report of the mission off the girl.

"Aa" Sakura muttered before walking out of the office.

--

'_Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, that's it, nice calm breaths, yea that's it, nice calm breaths, in and out, in, out-'_

'_**SHANNARO! I can't take it any more, any more of these team mission and I'll kill some one!'**_

'_It's not a mission, it's just a training session, this was the only way to keep this lot quiet'_

_FLASH BACK…_

"_Hey, Sakura-chan" Ino smiled as she came up to the pink haired jounin, who was currently healing one of the injured in the hospital._

"_Nani?" Sakura asked._

"_That last mission with the lot of us, it really widened my eyes. I realize that I'm absolutely hopeless as a shinobi, so I won't be able to get any further than I already am. So, so I have decided I will become a medic Nin, like you!" Ino proclaimed._

"_That's great" Sakura nodded as she concentrated chakra into the palm of her hands and focused her healing abilities to the leg of the man she was asked to heal._

"_I mean it!" Ino shouted._

"_Why tell me? I have nothing to do with what you choose as a shinobi" Sakura said, still healing the leg of the man._

"_Because, because I wanted you to teach me!" Ino pleaded._

"_Sorry, I don't take disciples" Sakura declined._

"_B-but-"_

"_Go ask Tsunade or Shizune to help you out, I have no time for teaching" Sakura said._

"_Then could you at least ask her for me?" Ino asked._

"_I would much prefer that you became a medic from your own strength not some one else's" Sakura answered, now healing the man's arm._

"_Demo-"_

"_Please, Ino, I am busy now, Tsunade is most likely in her office drunk, now is your best chance to ask her" Sakura said._

"_Then can we at least train with you?" Ino asked._

"_We?" Sakura asked._

"_You know, Team Gai, ten, eight and your own team" Ino pleaded._

"_If they are so desperate to train with me, tell them to meet me at exactly four am, no exceptions to anyone, if you're late, I will train without you. At the bridge where team Kakashi usually meets, I'm sure you are familiar with it correct? In two days. Now please leave" Sakura explained._

"_Arigato Sakura-chan" Ino smiled before she left the operating room._

…_END FLASH BACK_

Okay, so she really wasn't training with them per say, it was more like, you come here and you can train, I won't train with you, aside that, Sakura was currently mediating, so she needed complete and utter silence, so the others followed her and began meditating too. It was a good way to focus on chakra control, so they went with it immediately. Unlike the others in the training area, Sakura chose to meditate on the trunk of a tree, which meant cross legged and side ways, the others meditating the normal way on the ground.

"Sakura-chan, how much longer are you going to mediate?" Naruto whined, obviously bored "You've been meditating for the last _five _hours"

No response.

"Sakura-chan" Ino wailed.

No response.

"Sakura?" Shikamaru questioned watching the girl on the side of the tree.

No response.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!!" Tenten, Naruto and Ino shouted.

"Nani?" Sakura asked, eyes closed. Every one seemed to sweatdrop.

"I thought you said train with you, you're not training with us" Ino frowned.

"So?" Sakura asked.

"Can we do something more physical?" Naruto whined.

"Like?"

"Sparring? I don't know laps?" Kiba questioned.

"You guys can spar to your…" Sakura paused as a frown adorned her face.

"Daijobou?" Hinata asked.

"Duck" Sakura ordered.

"Duck?" Ino blinked, the others also confused.

"What does a duck have to do with training?" Naruto frowned.

"Duck" Sakura repeated.

"Nani?" Tenten frowned.

"Didn't you guys hear me? I said duck!" Sakura growled as she launched off the tree and pushed the eleven other ninjas to the ground with multiple clones. In an instant as Sakura pushed them to the ground three kunai zoomed over their heads, embedding themselves into the tree Sakura was on moments ago. Looking around from the source of the attack, Sakura's eyes hardened when she realized it was merely a boy. He had long brown hair and wore a simple black t-shirt and shorts attire with the normal ninja sandals and equipment. From Sakura's opinion he looked like he had been a ninja for roughly a year, he wasn't a Konoha shinobi though that they could tell anyway, his head band wasn't visible.

"What the hell kid? What gave you the idea you could randomly throw kunai at people?!" Naruto shouted as the Konoha twelve hastily got up and faced the young boy.

"You" the boy growled, pointing at them.

"Nani?" Ino and Hinata muttered in unison.

"You with the pink hair! Your name is Haruno Sakura correct?!" the boy shouted, pointing at the girl who seemed to be in the centre of the Konoha twelve.

"Depends, who are you?" Sakura asked, wondering who the hell the kid was.

"My name is Kouta of the Rock! And I am here for revenge!" the boy proclaimed before he charged towards the Konoha shinobi angrily. Instantly the leaf shinobi dispersed, leaving Sakura to block the income kunai with a kunai of her own.

"Why the hell would you want revenge on Sakura-chan?!" Tenten growled.

"Because she killed my father!" Kouta claimed throwing another array of weapons towards the girl which she dodged effortlessly.

"That's ridiculous! Sakura-chan has never killed anyone!" Ino declared watching Sakura effortlessly dodge the swarm of kunai that were about to pellet on her.

"Enough you guys" Sakura ordered calmly "Truth Ino, I have killed many, as a shinobi one may have to kill to obtain information, however unless you give me a specific name, I will have no idea who you are" Sakura said calmly looking at the boy in the eyes.

"Y-you" Ino gasped wide eyed.

"Ten years ago you killed my father, I'm sure you didn't kill that many people at a young age" the boy shouted. Everyone seemed to pause as they looked towards Sakura who stared slightly wide eyed at the child.

"Now that's ridiculous! Sakura-chan would have been like seven at the time!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Truth you guys, I'm sixteen this year" Sakura said.

"You're sixteen? The youngest out of us?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Did I ever claim to be the older of you lot?" Sakura asked.

"What does it matter? Sakura would have only been five or six then! There's no way she killed some one when she was FIVE!!!" Kiba glowered.

"Why do you defend a heartless murderer?!" Kouta snarled.

"Ten years ago?" Sakura muttered.

"A big genocide, ring any bells? The one where you killed your own family plus my father?!" Kouta barked.

"W-what?" Hinata stuttered staring at the pink haired girl in shock like every other Konoha shinobi in the field.

"I-is i-it t-true S-sakura-chan?" Lee stuttered.

"Okay let's get these facts straight. First, yes I killed a group of people when I was younger-"

"You just confessed to your crimes! You should be in jail or dead by now!" Kouta yelled.

"However, there are some facts I want to get straight, where ever you got your information was obviously wrong" Sakura glared.

"Yea right! You're just a heartless murderer!" Kouta exclaimed.

"Shut up boy and listen will you! Ten years ago, on the 28th of March, ten maybe fifteen, I don't remember the numbers now; rogue ninja stormed into the respected Haruno district of Konoha and held everyone as hostage, whatever they were after I'm not too sure, but it drove them to the point that each and every member of the Haruno clan were slaughtered. Each person was literally slaughtered and tortured; I don't believe you have a right to the details of the massacre. However, as the head of family was killed, I remained, and that was when something inside me snapped and I killed the ninja who killed my family. Whether or not your father was part of that group I don't know, nor care, if he stepped onto the ground and participated in the massacre, then he deserved to die" Sakura explained monotonously.

"Lies! My father was a respected shinobi he wouldn't ever do something so evil! You've got quite the story there to back you up!" Kouta shouted before he launched towards the blossom with a katana drawn. Shocked that she missed the katana on his body, Sakura did the only thing she could and blocked the blade with her kunai, metal clashing with metal.

"What I speak is the truth. Correct the chance of it becoming distorted in memory is possible, but no one ever forgets the death of their own family" Sakura said as she side kicked the boy away from her being.

"You lie! You were the one who killed your family plus those ninja! You should have been killed as soon as they found you!" Kouta shouted, charging towards the blossom again. Instantly the boy was in front of the girl and ready to punch her in the gut had she not dodged the attack effortlessly and flipped away from Kouta quickly.

"Tell me boy, who was your source for this information?" Sakura asked.

"Rock resources" Kouta answered.

"How in the world?" Sakura gasped as he leapt away from the boy and contemplated her situation.

"You going to confess for your crimes yet?" Kouta sneered.

"I will not confess for crimes I haven't committed!" Sakura shouted; axe kicking the ground around her creating a large crater.

"Avoid the truth I see" Kouta scoffed.

"I don't know how the Rock got a hold of classified information but I'm telling you now! I didn't kill my family!" Sakura shouted, creating flames in the palm of her hand.

"If your innocent why do you keep fighting back? Hiding something?" Kouta glared.

"I keep fighting back because you keep attacking!" Sakura shouted.

"Because you deserve to be punished for what you did!" Kouta growled.

"Enough!" Sakura shouted as balls of fire began plummeting towards the boy at incredible speeds. Instantly the area the boy was in blew up in a tower of flames, indicating he had been hit, well would have been had he not used a 'kawarimi no jutsu'.

"H-how on earth did Sakura-chan do that?" Ino gasped.

"How did that kid get here in the first place?" Sai asked.

"Chuunin exams are here again" Sakura explained.

"You keep defending your self, you must be guilty!" Kouta exclaimed charging at the girl again.

"I'm not continuing this fight with a kid half my size, I have no reason to keep doing this against some one I just met. You have the right to an opinion, I have the right to mine, however next time you come across me, my senbon needle will be in you" Sakura threatened "I have killed many with my senbon, I'm sure you don't want to add your self to that list" Sakura growled knocking the child unconscious.

"Oi…get back here you…coward!" Kouta mumbled as he drifted into a world of darkness.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto muttered.

"Please see to it that this boy is brought to the hospital for medical attention, if he is in fact here for the chuunin exams tell Tsunade that he is disqualified for attacking one of the Exam proctors" Sakura ordered.

"W-what?!" Tenten's eyes seemed to pop out at that moment.

"Geez guys, I'm the Examiner for the third Exam in the Chuunin Selection" Sakura sighed "Ja" Sakura waved as she disappeared in a drizzle of cherry blossoms.

--

Sitting above the tree tops, Sakura watched the sun fall, enjoying the peace and quiet she had, savouring it while it lasted. The encounter with the kid bothered her to an extent and so, she was only here to clear her mind. Her loose hair flew in the breeze, dancing with the occasional leaf that snapped off the branch.

"Sakura, daijobou?" Sasuke asked as he appeared on the tree branch beside her.

"What do you want Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"I want to know if you're alright" Sasuke said, repeating his question from before.

"I'm fine" Sakura replied, gazing out into the sun.

"What the kid said, did…you really…kill your own…family?" Sasuke asked nervously.

"So you believe him eh?" Sakura chuckled bitterly.

"No, but his story…" Sasuke muttered.

"To answer your question Sasuke, no I didn't" Sakura said.

"What happened then?" Sasuke asked.

"Like I said, each member was slaughtered" Sakura said.

"How are you sure that happened?" Sasuke asked. Sakura paused and continued looking out towards the sun set. Turning to face Sasuke, she was locked in a heated battle between their eyes.

"Because, I was the only one who witnessed everything from the beginning to end" Sakura answered quietly, bangs covering her eyes "Ne, Sasuke, consider your self lucky you only witnessed your parents fall first hand unlike your entire clan. Consider your self lucky you had seven years of life before it happened" Sakura chuckled heartlessly.

"Y-you-"

"If you want the details of it, they're some where in Konoha records on tape" Sakura said before she disappeared from sight.

--

Notes:

-Sorry for the uber long wait for the chapter...that probably isn't even worth it e.e;

-I hope you like it, and just as a side note, I hope you guys realize how much those favourite author, story, reviews and everything else means to me. It came as quite a shock to see some of the reviewsw and left me feeling so awesome about my self, it just put a major change in my attitude to life! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

-I hope to add another chapter on soon, I have almost finished chapter 5 (I hope) and I gotta start on the next chapter for HNiS -sweatdrops- Lucky for me I got a week of rest before I have to study for trials .''


	6. Maybe She, She Cried

Chapter 5: Maybe She…She Cried

--

**Summary: **She was admired, she was worshiped; she was praised. She grew in strength and power, she grew distant towards people. Since five, she had trying to save the people around her, but then she just gave up after her closest friend left her. She had never cried since the slaughter of her clan, but she still smiled, but as soon as he left, everything changed, she stopped smiling, she had forgotten how to. She had saved people numerous times in battle with her knowledge and abilities, she brought them back healthy from the missions they came across, it didn't matter, as long as her whole team came back safely, even if she was on the brink of death, she wouldn't allow her self to die pathetically. She had saved everyone, yet she was the one in need of saving; saving from herself and her decaying heart. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.

--

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Inner selves'**_

"Talking"

_FLASH BACK…_

P.O.V

--

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

--

**Recap:**

"Duck" Sakura ordered.

"Duck?" Ino blinked, the others also confused.

"What does a duck have to do with training?" Naruto frowned.

"Duck" Sakura repeated.

"Nani?" Tenten frowned.

"Didn't you guys hear me? I said duck!" Sakura growled as she launched off the tree and pushed the eleven other ninjas to the ground with multiple clones. In an instant as Sakura pushed them to the ground three kunai zoomed over their heads, embedding themselves into the tree Sakura was on moments ago. Looking around from the source of the attack, Sakura's eyes hardened when she realized it was merely a boy. He had long brown hair and wore a simple black t-shirt and shorts attire with the normal ninja sandals and equipment. From Sakura's opinion he looked like he had been a ninja for roughly a year, he wasn't a Konoha shinobi though that they could tell anyway, his head band wasn't visible.

"What the hell kid? What gave you the idea you could randomly throw kunai at people?!" Naruto shouted as the Konoha twelve hastily got up and faced the young boy.

"You" the boy growled, pointing at them.

"Nani?" Ino and Hinata muttered in unison.

"You with the pink hair! Your name is Haruno Sakura correct?!" the boy shouted, pointing at the girl who seemed to be in the centre of the Konoha twelve.

"Depends, who are you?" Sakura asked, wondering who the hell the kid was.

"My name is Kouta of the Rock! And I am here for revenge!" the boy proclaimed before he charged towards the Konoha shinobi angrily. Instantly the leaf shinobi dispersed, leaving Sakura to block the income kunai with a kunai of her own.

"Why the hell would you want revenge on Sakura-chan?!" Tenten growled.

"Because she killed my father!" Kouta claimed throwing another array of weapons towards the girl which she dodged effortlessly.

"That's ridiculous! Sakura-chan has never killed anyone!" Ino declared watching Sakura effortlessly dodge the swarm of kunai that were about to pellet on her.

"Enough you guys" Sakura ordered calmly "Truth Ino, I have killed many, as a shinobi one may have to kill to obtain information, however unless you give me a specific name, I will have no idea who you are" Sakura said calmly looking at the boy in the eyes.

"Y-you" Ino gasped wide eyed.

"Ten years ago you killed my father, I'm sure you didn't kill that many people at a young age" the boy shouted. Everyone seemed to pause as they looked towards Sakura who stared slightly wide eyed at the child.

"Now that's ridiculous! Sakura-chan would have been like seven at the time!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Truth you guys, I'm sixteen this year" Sakura said.

"You're sixteen? The youngest out of us?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Did I ever claim to be the older of you lot?" Sakura asked.

"What does it matter? Sakura would have only been five or six then! There's no way she killed some one when she was FIVE!!!" Kiba glowered.

"Why do you defend a heartless murderer?!" Kouta snarled.

"Ten years ago?" Sakura muttered.

"A big genocide, ring any bells? The one where you killed your own family plus my father?!" Kouta barked.

"W-what?" Hinata stuttered staring at the pink haired girl in shock like every other Konoha shinobi in the field.

"I-is i-it t-true S-sakura-chan?" Lee stuttered.

"Okay let's get these facts straight. First, yes I killed a group of people when I was younger-"

"You just confessed to your crimes! You should be in jail or dead by now!" Kouta yelled.

"However, there are some facts I want to get straight, where ever you got your information was obviously wrong" Sakura glared.

"Yea right! You're just a heartless murderer!" Kouta exclaimed.

"Shut up boy and listen will you! Ten years ago, on the 28th of March, ten maybe fifteen, I don't remember the numbers now; rogue ninja stormed into the respected Haruno district of Konoha and held everyone as hostage, whatever they were after I'm not too sure, but it drove them to the point that each and every member of the Haruno clan were slaughtered. Each person was literally slaughtered and tortured; I don't believe you have a right to the details of the massacre. However, as the head of family was killed, I remained, and that was when something inside me snapped and I killed the ninja who killed my family. Whether or not your father was part of that group I don't know, nor care, if he stepped onto the ground and participated in the massacre, then he deserved to die" Sakura explained monotonously.

"Lies! My father was a respected shinobi he wouldn't ever do something so evil! You've got quite the story there to back you up!" Kouta shouted before he launched towards the blossom with a katana drawn. Shocked that she missed the katana on his body, Sakura did the only thing she could and blocked the blade with her kunai, metal clashing with metal.

"What I speak is the truth. Correct the chance of it becoming distorted in memory is possible, but no one ever forgets the death of their own family" Sakura said as she side kicked the boy away from her being.

"You lie! You were the one who killed your family plus those ninja! You should have been killed as soon as they found you!" Kouta shouted, charging towards the blossom again. Instantly the boy was in front of the girl and ready to punch her in the gut had she not dodged the attack effortlessly and flipped away from Kouta quickly.

"Tell me boy, who was your source for this information?" Sakura asked.

"Rock resources" Kouta answered.

"How in the world?" Sakura gasped as he leapt away from the boy and contemplated her situation.

"You going to confess for your crimes yet?" Kouta sneered.

"I will not confess for crimes I haven't committed!" Sakura shouted; axe kicking the ground around her creating a large crater.

"Avoid the truth I see" Kouta scoffed.

"I don't know how the Rock got a hold of classified information but I'm telling you now! I didn't kill my family!" Sakura shouted, creating flames in the palm of her hand.

"If your innocent why do you keep fighting back? Hiding something?" Kouta glared.

"I keep fighting back because you keep attacking!" Sakura shouted.

"Because you deserve to be punished for what you did!" Kouta growled.

"Enough!" Sakura shouted as balls of fire began plummeting towards the boy at incredible speeds. Instantly the area the boy was in blew up in a tower of flames, indicating he had been hit, well would have been had he not used a 'kawarimi no jutsu'.

"H-how on earth did Sakura-chan do that?" Ino gasped.

"How did that kid get here in the first place?" Sai asked.

"Chuunin exams are here again" Sakura explained.

"You keep defending your self, you must be guilty!" Kouta exclaimed charging at the girl again.

"I'm not continuing this fight with a kid half my size, I have no reason to keep doing this against some one I just met. You have the right to an opinion, I have the right to mine, however next time you come across me, my senbon needle will be in you" Sakura threatened "I have killed many with my senbon, I'm sure you don't want to add your self to that list" Sakura growled knocking the child unconscious.

"Oi…get back here you…coward!" Kouta mumbled as he drifted into a world of darkness.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto muttered.

"Please see to it that this boy is brought to the hospital for medical attention, if he is in fact here for the chuunin exams tell Tsunade that he is disqualified for attacking one of the Exam proctors" Sakura ordered.

"W-what?!" Tenten's eyes seemed to pop out at that moment.

"Geez guys, I'm the Examiner for the third Exam in the Chuunin Selection" Sakura sighed "Ja" Sakura waved as she disappeared in a drizzle of cherry blossoms.

--

Sitting above the tree tops, Sakura watched the sun fall, enjoying the peace and quiet she had, savouring it while it lasted. The encounter with the kid bothered her to an extent and so, she was only here to clear her mind. Her loose hair flew in the breeze, dancing with the occasional leaf that snapped off the branch.

"Sakura, daijobou?" Sasuke asked as he appeared on the tree branch beside her.

"What do you want Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"I want to know if you're alright" Sasuke said, repeating his question from before.

"I'm fine" Sakura replied, gazing out into the sun.

"What the kid said, did…you really…kill your own…family?" Sasuke asked nervously.

"So you believe him eh?" Sakura chuckled bitterly.

"No, but his story…" Sasuke muttered.

"To answer your question Sasuke, no I didn't" Sakura said.

"What happened then?" Sasuke asked.

"Like I said, each member was slaughtered" Sakura said.

"How are you sure that happened?" Sasuke asked. Sakura paused and continued looking out towards the sun set. Turning to face Sasuke, she was locked in a heated battle between their eyes.

"Because, I was the only one who witnessed everything from the beginning to end" Sakura answered quietly, bangs covering her eyes "Ne, Sasuke, consider your self lucky you only witnessed your parents fall first hand unlike your entire clan. Consider your self lucky you had seven years of life before it happened" Sakura chuckled heartlessly.

"Y-you-"

"If you want the details of it, they're some where in Konoha records on tape" Sakura said before she disappeared from sight.

**End Recap**

--

"You wanted the tape to her interview yea?" Tsunade asked.

"I want to know what happened" Sasuke explained.

"Of course, here, listen to it, it is really quite amazing to hear Sakura as a kid" Tsunade said.

"You listened to it?" Sasuke questioned.

"Of course, I had to check if anything was valuable for us in the future" Tsunade explained "it is actually quite disturbing to hear what she said as well"

"Hn" Sasuke grunted.

_(RADIO RECORDING BEGIN…)_

"_Date: March 29__th__. Interrogation room: three. Time: ten thirty-eight. Suspect/Witness: Haruno Sakura. Age: 5. Birthday: March 28__th__. Birth Place: Konoha. Blood type: O. Eye Colour: Green. Hair: Pink. Event: Haruno Genocide" the deep male voice listed._

"_Hello Haruno-san, I'm sure you are aware of what is happening right now" the man spoke._

"_Sakura" a quiet voice murmured._

"_Excuse me?" the man questioned._

"_Sakura. Call me Sakura not Haruno" the girl mumbled._

"_Of course Sakura-san, and you may call me Ibiki" the man spoke._

"_Hai Ibiki-san" Sakura said._

"_Do you know why you are here?" Ibiki asked._

"_Hai. You wish for me to give an eye witness account on what happened…yesterday" Sakura replied calmly._

"_Good, so, I will get straight into the interview then" Ibiki said "Can you tell me what happened in your own words?"_

"_Hai" Sakura said before she continued "Last night, just after my birthday party, shinobi, stormed into the Haruno district and captured minna-san and tied them up effortlessly, like cattle. I think it was about ten or twelve men who came in, I couldn't see their faces at the time because it was very dark and the lights had been turned off inside, but it was still bright enough so I could see what was going on. They blind folded and tied up minna-san, but they left me with only chakra ropes tied around my wrist to my back and legs also bound. They…they grabbed the members of the branch family first and slaughtered them. First their hands and then their feet were chopped, followed by their arms and legs, then finally their heads and torsos chopped in half. They repeated this one by one; every member was slaughtered going from the lower ranks to the higher ranks before eventually getting to the head of the family. _

_First it was Oji-sama and Obaa-sama who got slaughtered like the rest and then they did Otou-sama and Okaa-sama. But…but, Tou-sama, Kaa-sama, they…they were…tortured! They were stripped of their clothes then whipped, slashed, bashed and kicked. Kaa-sama was raped continuously by all the men and then Tou-sama was bashed and beaten and then I think the shinobi got bored because they slaughtered them like the other members only they were slowly tortured with that too, with each appendage cut off" Sakura paused for a deep moment in thought "Then, they were about to come for me…something in me, it snapped, broke free of the bindings…and…and…I killed them! I used their forgotten weapons and killed them; I stabbed the first guy in the heart and in the temple with a kunai and repeated that all of them except for one which I assumed was the leader, with him, I beat him a bit, kicks, punches, you know and stabbed him in the gut, the heart and the temple. Onii-sama and onee-sama didn't get killed because they were on a mission" Sakura answered. _

"_Very good Sakura-san" Ibiki applauded "Though, why did you pause suddenly half way through the interview" Ibiki asked._

"_When I told you about how my parents were killed, I remembered their last words. I have to go tell my onii-sama and onee-sama what they said" Sakura spoke, sort of urgently. _

"_What may that be Sakura-san?" Ibiki inquired, just making sure it wasn't something that was life threatening or something really serious._

"_That Okaa-sama and Otou-sama love them" Sakura chirped._

"_Of course. Go ahead" Ibiki said._

"_Interrogation end. Time: eleven forty-nine. Problems with in the interview: none. Witness behaviour: Calm, no struggle to giving information. Body language: also calm, no struggle for tears. Interrogator's conclusion: Witness was not lying about information, has obviously been raised to know how to work in a situation like this. Interrogator: Morino Ibiki._

_(…END RADIO RECORDING)_

"…" Sasuke couldn't believe what he heard "Are you sure Sakura said this as a kid?"

"Positive" Tsunade nodded.

"It seems odd to hear how calm she was through the interview don't you think?" Sasuke muttered.

"Yea it is" Tsunade nodded "She sounds like a master of interrogation techniques"

"I can't believe she witnessed all that, and was still able to keep a cool face" Sasuke voiced

"I know" Tsunade nodded.

"What's more frightening? The fact she saw all of this while she was five? Or the fact she saw all of this while she was five and was still able to keep a cool façade during the entire incident?" Sasuke wondered.

--

_DREAM SEQUENCE…_

_The mission was finally over. Not only did she have to get this blasted scroll from some island no one ever heard of, but the stupid scroll was in the middle of a fracken volcano! How the hell it got there was beyond the girl, and how it was still in one piece and not burnt was also astounding. She was some what relieved that she had the ability to control elements, but did lava and molten rock technically count? Not hard right? Wrong, not only was it over a rock which was in the middle of a volcano, she had to go down to the very centre of the damn volcano because that's where the damn thing was being held, and not only that, about ten minutes ago she had just battled ten or so A-ranked shinobi who were also after the scroll, what ever was in this scroll had better be worth it in the end! _

_Concentrating chakra into her palms the girl focused on moving the molten rock, slowly realizing it was like moving a mixture of fire and water, which was actually quite difficult the girl had to admit, first water, it was meant to be free flowing, you didn't need power in it, it just flowed, great amounts of chakra weren't a necessity nor were preferred, and then you had fire, it needed large blasts of chakra in one go constantly to be kept at a quick pace, it wasn't free flowing like water was, so this made it much more difficult to move the lava efficiently, however, with much struggle, the girl was able to hold the lava long enough so that she could jump onto the lava, run on it to the scroll and go back. Simple right? Wrong, not only was this over molten rock and what not, it had daggers and what not flying from every direction as the blossom stepped one chakra filled foot on the lava, aiming to attack her! That was absolutely thrilling for the girl! Now, she had to avoid getting burnt and killed by lava, avoid the flying weapons of mass destruction and get the scroll while still in one piece with the scroll still in one piece, just as well her outfit was heat proof and flexible._

_Prepared for the worst, Sakura raced down back onto the lava at incredible speeds dodging and blocking the weapons left, right and centre before she got to the scroll and grabbed it, securing it in her jounin vest for safe keeping. Turning around to face the direction she came in, Sakura's eyes widened when she saw pendulums some how swinging from the top of the volcano and spikes been shot from all locations of the volcano. Cursing to her self as the molten rock became wild the girl pumped chakra into her entire body as she charged over the hot, red, liquid rock, avoiding the weapons and such as much as possible and got back out of the volcano in roughly one piece, if you ignore the strand of hair that got snipped off when she was caught off guard by a bubble of molten rock and got cut by a random flying dagger._

_Breathing in relief, the girl made sure she had all she needed in her hold before she checked over her self quickly. She smirked, it wasn't too bad; she had only received slight burns, nothing her inner self couldn't cure while she made her way towards Konoha to drop off the damn scroll. No wonder this mission was a solo mission and ranked A. Flying above her was her loyal bird as she began racing away from the killer volcano and towards the cool forest below. _

_Well, when she thought the mission was over, she thought too soon, because as soon as she reached the bottom of the steamy volcano, she was blocked by a team of Grass Nins who were standing in her path, smirking evilly._

"_It was so nice of you to get the scroll for us" the girl of the team smirked._

"_I know wasn't it?" Sakura spat with sarcasm._

"_Now hand it over like a good little girl" a man spoke._

"_Sorry no can do" Sakura said._

"_Then we will have to take it by force!" the woman declared before all four shinobi charged towards in an attempt to get the scroll they wanted, and had actually tried numerous times to get the scroll, only to fail countless times, then here was the pink haired girl at the age of sixteen who got it on her first try, you had to bet that stung the poor Grass shinobi's ego._

"_You will have to do a lot for me to hand it over to you carelessly" Sakura glared, preparing for combat. Bringing out a four senbon, two in each hand she shot them straight towards the unsuspecting shinobi, hitting straight in the neck._

"_You think a stupid senbon needle will do anything?" the woman glared._

"_Of course not, but with my poison on it, you will should be dead at about now" the pink haired girl smirked as each shinobi dropped dead "Idiots" Sakura snorted before disappearing from sight, knowing that Guyver would remove of them, most likely tossing them into the volcano. Okay, so the mission is technically over now right?_

_--_

_WRONG!!_

_Sakura cursed, it was a good thing she kept alert because if she didn't she would most likely be unconscious, bleeding and half way onto her way to the Akatsuki lair, with not two members, but four! It seemed they thought it'd be easier to capture her with four people instead of the regular two. Her clone had been hit, literally over the head and was down in no time, only to disappear in a cloud of smoke as the real Sakura walked into the clearing and paused. _

"_You and I know you're there, you may as well come out now" Sakura shouted. In a matter of seconds, four Akatsuki members had come out, surrounding her in a square formation. What were there names again? Deidara and Tobi were the ones who Sakura remembered, but the other two were new to the girl, having never fought them before, but if she had her facts straight the one that looked a Venus fly trap was Zetsu and the other one was from sand, judging by his hidden face._

"_It would seem we were to meet again Sakura-san un" Deidara smirked._

"_It feels like it has been a while has it not?" Sakura asked._

"_Yes it would seem like that, it feels like more than a year that we haven't met, and yet in reality it's only a couple of months un" Deidara sighed._

"_It's amazing how slow time may go at times, but I must congratulate you on your recovery time, most people with the damages I left you with wouldn't even survive" Sakura sneered._

"_I'm not most people Sakura-san un, I'm actually quite hurt to think that you think of me as ordinary un" Deidara said, placing a hand over his heart area to add to the dramatic effect._

"_It's very hard to think of you as ordinary, but I do try" Sakura smirked._

"_Because anything else just wouldn't be you would it un?" Deidara sighed._

"_No, I don't believe it would, how about we begin this tango" Sakura spat, bowing mockingly._

"_I was only waiting for your signal" Deidara said, also bowing mockingly._

"_Of course" Sakura nodded as both parties disappeared in a flash, clashing in several quick motions as the four against one battle continued with only weapons. It felt like hours had passed since the battle had begun, and now both parties were severely damaged. Sakura could feel her bones snapping in two, and she could bet anything that as soon as she got into Konoha (if she did) there would a very long lecture about this, not only that, she had gotten caught in Deidara's bombs occasionally resulting in slightly severe burns all over her body. There were a few stab wounds, and obvious one was her stomach which had a hole right in the middle of it, despite her outfit not even ripping. Her chakra had been drained numerous times by the other two members of Akatsuki who Sakura never battled before, not knowing what to expect from them became quite annoying during the battle. Her hair was practically drenched in blood and her fair skin was strained with the red ooze. Her organs felt punctured, which meant she was definitely bruising and bleeding internally at least. Not only did her torso and below suffer major blows, her head also got hit several times, she was sure that there could have been numerous times she could have been knocked out but wasn't. Albeit that, Sakura had to admit, she wasn't in as nearly bad shape as to what she had done to Akatsuki. _

_Those poor guys, the only reason they weren't dead yet was because Sakura found it amusing and challenging to fight against them, they actually posed a challenge to her and her life force, it was fun to her. She had to admit, they were getting better all the time, Deidara's bombs were becoming more and more deadly, that didn't mean Sakura's attacks weren't improving either, he was just improving with her. The Suna nuke nin and Zetsu were long gone, who had no choice but to retire having received a fair beating and were on the brink of losing their lives if they weren't carefully and so they had to flee, which Sakura allowed them to, so she could fight Deidara properly, who shared roughly the same amount of wounds Sakura did, but multiplied by ten or so. _

"_You…have definitely improved…since last time…un" Deidara smirked as he struggled to breathe._

"_I know" Sakura sneered "So have you" _

"_I take it we shall continue, since Tobi is already knocked out un?" Deidara asked._

"_I was just waiting for you" Sakura smirked and again, the two clashed, fighting each other with everything that they had not giving the other to catch their breath and formulate a plan, even though Deidara was usually the laid back type of guy. _

"_Geez, I said you had improved…but I didn't realize you improved this much un" Deidara coughed as blood came out of his throat after Sakura had landed a good chakra infused kick into his abdomen. _

"_I wasn't picking daisies you know" Sakura spat angrily as she punched another chakra infused fist into his abdomen before flying back from the bomb the blonde haired man let off._

"_I know un" Deidara smirked coughing up more blood._

"_This is where I advise you to stop and get lost" Sakura glared, roots coming out of the ground and grabbing a hold of him._

"_You got this off your brother un?" Deidara asked._

"_Off my family" Sakura smirked before the vines lifted the man in the air with his partner and flung them a good couple of thousands of kilometres away. Smirking to herself in relief, the girl collapsed in exhaustion and blood loss; fainting almost immediately as she hit the ground, thinking that her end would come very soon._

…_END DREAM SEQUENCE_

--

Sunlight splattered into the plain decorated room, curtains were open, allowing sunlight to bucket into the room spreading warmth and light, something night just couldn't naturally give. Birds sang in the trees and soared in the sky carelessly as they went on with their lives like many others in the city of Konoha did at the early time of the morning. Morning dew dripped off tree leaves giving a fresh look to the environment; it looked simple. Inside the plain decorated room above many stories a badly withered pink haired, green eyed blossom lay soundly on the stiff, lumpy mattress and rock hard pillow, yet none-the-less she slept peacefully. Dressed in her usual ninja attire, her hair remained in her two buns and shoes left on, much too many people's surprise.

Many people had come to visit the girl, worried for her health and her over all well being because it didn't happen often that the girl was in hospital after missions, and it was only by chance that Team Kakashi had found her on their way back from their own mission. It pained many to see her looking so frail like she could snap, like laying a feather on the girl and she would break. Over her mouth was a respirator to aid her breathing, machines of various places were hooked to her were skin was viewable, monitoring her vital signs to comfort her friends who were greatly worried for her, and on the last available place on her body an IV drip was plugged into her, giving her the much needed nutrients she needed while she was technically still unconscious and unable to fend for her self, or do anything for that matter.

When Tsunade came in on her morning routine, she was not expecting Team Kakashi to come rushing in panic stricken and loud with a blossom in Sasuke's hold. Not only that but she looked pathetically weak, and Tsunade paled as she looked over her disciple; her make believe daughter. Rushing her into the emergency operating room, Tsunade slaved for ten hours straight to save the dying girl with all her medical knowledge, and not only did she need to use all her chakra, she required the assistance of Shizune who also helped with the major fatalities while other medics aided with the minor ones. Although she was running up the walls mad (some what literate) Tsunade could help but put a small smile on her face as she realized that the most worried out of the entire Team Kakashi was the one who brought her in, even if he didn't show it, she could tell by just looking at the boy's eyes and how he stared at the operating room for hours and stayed by her side continuously through the recovery stage. Not once had she not found him by the girl's side stroking her hand, and although he claimed that he was doing it because she asked him to do as a mission, she knew better, and even if he wasn't willing to admit it, he loved the girl deeply and was not willing to let her go just yet.

Foot steps echoed through the hallways, clapping against the pale floor boards of the building. The sound grew louder and louder, more distinct, more definable, it was there and it was growing louder as it advanced to outside of the room. Suddenly it paused, silence ensured for everlasting seconds before another sound was made, which was particularly distinct as a handle door being pushed down and the eerie creaking of the door the was slowly moving, indicating that some one was coming into a room.

To some it may seem odd to see the Uchiha survivor turn traitor in the hospital room, especially to the untrained eye, but to people who knew him, he was obviously there for a mission, a mission to guard the blossom in bed and alert the correct authority when the girl awoke from her blood lose induced coma, of course, he wasn't the only one assigned the mission, it was a team mission with the other members of Team Kakashi because they had the best relationship with the girl out of anyone in the village aside Tsunade, but that was because she was the Hokage, but almost everyone knew he was there to make sure he was there when she woke up not because Tsunade had told him, in fact he took the shifts to care for the girl more than any of the other members of Team Kakashi. Aside that, Tsunade had forced them to keep her under surveillance after learning that she was attacked full-throttle by four Akatsuki members and was not willing to risk that happening again while she was around.

Glancing over at the blossom, the eyes of the Uchiha seemed to call out to the girl, begging her to wake up, either because he wanted to train and she was disrupting his schedule, or he wanted her to wake up to know that she will survive and that she's all alright, to know the blossom that kept him going in his youth and even now, will still be alive. Admittedly, not knowing when she would wake up scared the shit out of Sasuke, because for all they knew she most likely wouldn't wake up for 3 months at least, it was currently three weeks since she was put in hospital and came out of the emergency operating room, which was an agonizing eight hours.

A quiet stir from the bed alerted Sasuke as his eyes shot over to the bed where the blossom seemed to be twitching slightly but that seemed to be it for now. As minutes passed another more obvious twitch came before a repetitive series of movements that looked something similar to running and sprinting. A distressed frowned adorned her features, indicating that either she was waking up in a couple of seconds, or she is slowly regaining brain activity in her. More minutes passed and Sasuke lost his hope when she failed to wake up and guessed she was having a bad dream, suddenly, the frown on her face lessened to the point of it being a neutral face before the face scrunched up again. As the face de-scrunched it self, emerald green seemed to fade in and out as tired eye lids blinked up and down, slowly bringing the girl into consciousness. Watching the girl for a moment, Sasuke became instantly startled when the girl lifted her self up into a sitting position, albeit with struggle, but she was sitting. Running over to her side slightly startled, Sasuke couldn't help but smirked at the some what tired look on her face.

"Oi, Sasuke, what am I doing here?" Sakura croaked, obviously after being knocked out for three weeks her throat became a little dry.

"Hold up here, just lie down first Sakura, you've just woken up" Sasuke cooed, slowly moving the girl's body down so she was lying back on her pillow so she was still able to face him.

"Well? What am I doing here?" Sakura rasped. Sighing, Sasuke got the jug of water which lay next to her bed and poured her a glass, shoving it straight into her face which she was startled by slightly.

"Drink" Sasuke ordered. Nodding in understanding, Sakura slowly lifted her aching arms in an attempt to get the glass but failed as her arm fell limp against her side.

"Sit up a little" Sasuke said as he put the glass down and helped her up. Once she was in a safe sitting position, Sasuke moved the glass closer to her dry lips until they touched and helped her drink the water, which was rather hastily despite that she was aching in pain. In a matter of seconds the tall glass of water was finished and Sasuke put the empty glass back on the table beside her bed.

"Sasuke why am I here?" Sakura asked clearly.

"We found you a couple of miles outside of Konoha, you were pretty bad at the time, blood was everywhere, you had a massive gash down your stomach, and you were in the most awkwardest of positions I tell you, not to mention the multiple bruising and internal wounds that were obvious, as soon as we found you we raced you to the hospital" Sasuke said.

"I see" Sakura nodded, thinking about it for a moment.

"Sakura, do you realize how much pain you caused the medics when they tried to heal you?" Sasuke sighed.

"Nani?" Sakura frowned.

"None of your clothes apparently come off, it was impossible, and it doesn't rip by knives or anything" Sasuke sighed "They had to get Tsunade-sama down here to heal you properly"

"Oh" Sakura chuckled light heartedly.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked.

"I highly doubt anyone would be able to heal me properly even if they tried with this outfit on me" Sakura chuckled.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Material, unbreakable, it's basically unbreakable elastic which is why I can still get stabbed, and to remove it, it requires my chakra" Sakura explained still with an occasional giggle.

"Paranoid?" Sasuke scoffed.

"No, that's just what I wanted because it's heaps light weight" Sakura explained.

"By the way, Sakura, what happened on your mission? It was only a B-rank one, apparently you took longer than three days for it and on your B-ranked missions all you ever get injury wise is a little scratch" Sasuke frowned. Suddenly another person walked into the room, well person…it's more like people, because in the door way, were all of Team Kakashi as well as the remaining lot of the Konoha twelve. In each of the girl's hands there was at least one bouquet each, among other things. Along with the entire Konoha twelve the teachers of each squad was there, even Kakashi.

"I…Sakura-chan…you" Naruto stuttered in shock, saying everyone else's thoughts.

"Ohayou minna" Sakura smiled forcefully, she really didn't want to deal with this lot first thing in the morning.

"Sakura-chan!" Tenten, Ino, Kiba, Lee, Naruto, Hinata and Chouji exclaimed as all of them came rushing towards her kicking Sasuke out of his spot and to the back of the crowd.

"Are you alright Sakura-chan?" Ino asked.

"How do you feel?" Hinata asked.

"Are you ok?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Do you feel ok?" Tenten asked.

"What happened?" Kiba asked.

"Yosh my beautiful youthful blossom do you feel the youth in you yet?" Lee cried.

"Do you feel any pain?" Chouji asked.

Sakura twitched, they all just asked the exact same question just re-worded it numerous times _'Do I have to deal with this lot this early in the morning?'_

"I'm fine" Sakura answered.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ino shrieked.

"Doctors said you had internal bleeding almost everywhere, three broken rib, a broken arm, both legs broken or something, multiple stab wounds, burns wounds and scratching and much more, they were almost certain you have some bruising" Hinata exclaimed.

"Yea I'm fine" Sakura said.

"You're a pretty strong sixteen year old kid there Sakura" Neji said.

"Thanks…I think" Sakura sweatdropped.

"Glad to have you alive again Captain" Shikamaru mocked.

"Captain?" Sakura asked.

"As much as some of us hate to admit it, you make an awesome captain, and next time we have a big mission like we did before, we want you as our captain" Kiba smirked.

"And next time I would _appreciate_ if I **wasn't **left out!" Tenten glared.

"I guess I should say thanks then?" Sakura sweatdropped "How long have I been in here for now?" Sakura asked.

"Three weeks and a little bit" Shikamaru answered

'_Three weeks?! What the hell?'_ Sakura exclaimed.

"I missed you so much Sakura-chan" Naruto and Ino whined in unison.

"Guys, I was just unconscious, not gone for good" Sakura sighed.

"But Sasuke-teme was being a bastard" Naruto sulked.

"Dobe" Sasuke grunted.

'_Oi, are you even there?'_

'_**I'm sort of here, I needed to recover to, you suffered a bit of a head injury too'**_

'_Thought so, have you started any healing yet?'_

'_**Just about to start, but my power is kinda of low right now, can we split the job?'**_

'_Yea sure, you do inner, I'll do outer'_

'_**Seems fair'**_

"Sakura-chaaaan" Naruto whined annoyingly.

"Nani?" Sakura muttered, moving into a proper sitting position. Slowly the girl tried to move her legs but failed when she realized her legs were causing her an incredible amount discomfort.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Ino gasped when she saw the girl wince in pain.

"Don't worry about moving yet, you just woke up, you probably won't be able to move for a while" Hinata frowned.

"I see" Sakura muttered, moving her hands into the seal of the tiger and closing her eyes.

"What are you doing Sakura-chan?! Don't even try to leave!" Tenten glared.

"Not, just meditating" Sakura answered, well, actually she was healing her body by moving the healing chakra into the parts of her body which needed to be healed discreetly, but it looked like she was just meditating.

"I'm sorry to disrupt this little get together, but if I could have a moment with Team Kakashi and Sakura" Tsunade motioned for them to leave.

"Hai Tsunade-sama" Many nodded before they left the room to do whatever else they wanted to do.

"Haruno Sakura, I know you aren't going to like this, but I am re-assigning you to Team Kakashi for this period of time while your body heals, and until you do, you will stay in the hospital, or by my permission, in Uchiha Sasuke's house while you recover" Tsunade explained.

"Whatever" Sakura muttered, not actually listening.

"Other than that, I'm going to leave you with Naruto and Sasuke for the remainder of the healing process" Tsunade announced.

"Hai" Sakura nodded, not even opening her eyes to acknowledge the woman.

"Well if I'm not needed, ja" Kakashi and Sai smiled in unison before they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Right, well I have paper work to attend to, so, ja" Tsunade smiled before she also left.

As the door closed on the original Team seven members, tension rose in the air between Sasuke and Naruto as Naruto tried to bring up conversation with the pink haired girl, worried how she may react to his questions.

"S-sakura-c-chan, what exactly happened on your mission?" Naruto asked.

"Just ambushed by roughly fifty people" Sakura lied.

"Sakura-chan, we know that's not true" Naruto frowned "We saw what happened"

"Oh?" Sakura muttered.

"Sakura, why did four Akatsuki members ambush you?" Sasuke asked "You had nothing of value to them"

"I don't know, maybe they wanted the scroll?" Sakura questioned.

"Sakura we saw the entire battle, we didn't step in because we were curious to why they attacked you of all people" Sasuke said.

"They said come quietly or come painfully, either way they are going to get it" Naruto recited.

"And you said something about seeing them again or something" Sasuke muttered.

"Sakura-chan, have you come into multiple contacts with Akatsuki members?" Naruto asked.

"What did they want?" Sasuke asked.

"I am not entitled to answer anything to only colleagues" Sakura answered, continuing to heal her body.

"Sakura-chan! We have been through this before! We are friends and team mates despite you resigning from team Kakashi" Naruto cried "We have always been team mates"

"…"

"What happened to you Sakura-chan? You were easily annoyed, but not to the point that you blocked everyone out! You don't talk to any one any more beside Tsunade-baa-chan and that's because she merely gives you missions!" Naruto sniffed.

"We are team mates and we stick together no matter what" Sasuke insisted. Suddenly Sakura chuckled bitterly.

"You're a bit of a hypocrite saying that don't you think? Both of you?" Sakura sneered, her bangs covering her already closed eyes.

"Sakura-chan, what happened to the good old days of Team seven when we all did missions together happily? You enjoyed some of them you have to admit!" Naruto cried.

"Stop living in the past, those days are long gone" Sakura muttered darkly.

"But they don't have to be! Why do you keep shutting people out of your life? Why don't you try and let any one in?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I did try" Sakura murmured.

"W-what?" Naruto stuttered.

"I tried! And look where that got me?! I was abandoned! Just like last time!" Sakura yelled.

"…" Naruto stared.

"You mean with us?" Sasuke gasped wide eyed.

"You both left Konoha, and you know what? As much as I hate to admit it, I loved it when we had missions together. I have no idea why, I just felt betrayed by you two who were my so called team mates!" Sakura growled.

"Sakura, you knew why we each left, you could have stopped me" Sasuke cooed quietly, rubbing her back soothingly "You let me walk on by"

"And that's the stupid thing about it" Sakura chuckled "I let you guys go, but I still felt abandoned after I tried so hard to try and work with some one since they left me!" Sakura smiled bitterly.

"Who left?" Naruto muttered.

"My only other family" Sakura murmured as Sasuke pulled her into a long hug "Everyone keeps leaving" Sakura chuckled scarily "Why should I bother now any more when I just know it will end in pain" Sakura cried. Sending Sasuke a knowing look, Naruto joined in the odd hug before he walked out of the door, leaving Sasuke to comfort her, he was always able to sooth the pain in her.

"Is that what you meant by your closest friend?" Sasuke asked.

"I tried so hard to become friends, and you just seemed to understand me, the only person I really could relate to, but I felt like I'd be weak if I begged you to stay" Sakura murmured in his chest.

"Sakura, it takes a lot to live like you have for your entire life, you were never weak; you were never a burden, no matter the situation. You were what gave us hope and strength a lot of times in missions whether you realize this or not you are amazingly strong and I want you to know that" Sasuke whispered.

"Then why do I feel so weak and pathetic?" Sakura sniffled.

"I have no idea why, but you shouldn't" Sasuke stated "If you want, do you want to ask Tsunade if you can just stay at my house for now?" Sasuke offered.

"I don't want to-"

"Didn't I just tell you, you weren't a burden; I don't mind housing another person for a while" Sasuke said.

"But the cost of another person living, it's expensive" Sakura shook her head.

"Sakura, I'm from the _Uchiha_ clan remember?" Sasuke questioned.

"You shouldn't be wasting money on me, use it for something more useful" Sakura insisted "I can live at home, I'll be fine!" Sakura said.

"Sakura, you are staying at my house whether you like it or not" Sasuke said, ending the discussion.

"But-"

"That's enough Sakura" Sasuke said, placing his finger on her lips.

--

"Tsunade-sama, Sakura is requesting that she stay at my house over the hospital. Is it possibly?" Sasuke asked.

"Go ahead, it's that or she disappears and her condition ends up worse" Tsunade nodded.

"Hai" Sasuke nodded, bowing at of the office.

--

"She said-" Sasuke paused as he looked at the girl and gasped for air, before his face turned to a frown and stormed over to the girl, well there would have been a girl to run to, if she hadn't mysteriously vanished into thin air. Sasuke cursed and sighed at the same time, she was missing, and it was his responsibility to keep an eye on the girl at all times, but because he left to check with the Godaime, she seized the opportunity to escape, clever, but, she shouldn't have gotten far, her legs were broken, literally snapped in two, in three different places, it seemed quite amazing that she'd even be able to get out of the bed, but this girl a medic nin for a reason too.

Come to think of it, the last time Sasuke him self saw the girl in the hospital with any severe injuries was when Suna attacked Konoha and she came back with them in her arms after defeating Gaara, the Shukaku, and again that time, doctors had said she wouldn't be even awake for at least a week last time, and she was up and around in roughly two and a half days. Doctors had claimed she'd be in a coma, recovering for at least three months, and here she was awake in three weeks. Doctors last time had said she wouldn't even be walking for at least four weeks when she awoke, but heck they hadn't even seen her arise from her slumber and sneak out, which was most likely only a couple of hours after she awoke. This time, they claimed that she wouldn't be even able to move once she woke up for at least six months, so she would literally be a couch potato, yet she did move that just move and waltzed straight out of the hospital without any one noticing with in roughly an hour since she woke up. She was good, but oh so hopeless when it came to her own health.

Sasuke suddenly grimaced, it seemed to suddenly jog in his memory that he'd have to tell the Godaime about this little _incident_ and there was no doubt that the blond haired woman would be furious, and some how, he will most likely be on the receiving end of her anger, and her physical taijutsu strength…well…you know what Sakura's like…So if Tsunade's _daughter_ suddenly goes missing with out a trace and has multiple severe injuries, Tsunade would most likely becoming scarier than anything you would have ever imagined, and you would probably prefer to be up against the _entire_ Akatsuki organisation than the woman. Sighing, the Uchiha lad braced him self as he walked towards the Hokage Office where Tsunade sat, hopefully she was drinking sake so she wouldn't hit so hard, or accurately.

--

"SHE'S WHAT?!?!?!?!" Tsunade yelled for the fifth time, slamming her hand on the already smashed to pieces table.

"…I told you, she's missing" Sasuke repeated for sixth time. Turns out she was drunk when he came back to the office, but as soon as he said the words 'Sakura is missing' Tsunade suddenly became sober.

"Damn, I thought you were joking" Tsunade cursed.

"I don't joke around with matters like this" Sasuke glared.

"Well, go start looking for he, I will send others to help you look for her" Tsunade ordered.

"Hai" Sasuke nodded before disappearing out of the office.

"SHIZUNE! GET ME THE KONOHA TWELEVE RIGHT NOW AND IF THEY DON'T COME TELL THEM THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!!!" Tsunade shouted, alerting the entire village, so Shizune really didn't have to bother with alerting them as they came rushing to the Hokage office in fear that Tsunade would kill them if they dawdled and took their time.

"Tsunade-sama you called?" Ino asked as she and the other Konoha twelve peeked into the roof to find a very pissed off Tsunade. Behind them was Naruto who had his mouth clamped shut by Kiba and Chouji, for fear that if he said anything they would most likely be half way on their way to the fifth dimension.

"Yes, come in" Tsunade said as calmly as she could, although she was still twitching madly.

"So, Tsunade-sama, what did you want us for?" Tenten asked as the Konoha twelve separated into their usual squads, leaving Naruto on his own.

"Haruno Sakura is missing, I have already sent Sasuke to look for her, you are going to help him find her, and once you do find her, bring her to me immediately" Tsunade said.

"Excuse me?" Hinata blinked.

"Find Haruno Sakura" Tsunade repeated.

"Isn't she at the hospital?" Ino asked.

"Would I be asking you to find her if she was in the HOSPITAL?!" Tsunade glared.

"But it would be impossible for any one in her condition to escape!" Kiba exclaimed.

"I don't know how or why, just find her!" Tsunade ordered.

"Does it really require eleven people to find her?" Shikamaru asked.

"Find her now, or you will find your selves in a very _unfortunate_ situation" Tsunade seethed, cracking her knuckles.

"H-hai" the ten shinobi nodded before they all bowed and ran from the woman, whose anger was growing rapidly, which was rather scary.

--

"Where the hell is she?!" Ino cursed as she continued searching around the city of Konoha looking for a sign of pink.

"I have no idea, she is excellent at hiding" Hinata muttered as she searched with Ino and Tenten by her side.

"Can't you find her with your Byakugan?" Tenten asked.

"I've tried, I can't seem to find her, may be Neji-nii-san has had better luck" Hinata prayed optimistically.

"No I haven't" Neji's voice crackled through an ear piece; with him were Kiba and Shikamaru. Naruto and Sasuke had begun searching together, which left Shino, Chouji and Lee to search through their own devices. Each group was communicating through head sets.

"Damn, how could she disappear so quickly?" Kiba cursed.

"Troublesome" Shikamaru muttered.

"This is crazy! She has pink hair!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I know; which is making it all the more annoying" Kiba growled.

"We have to find her! What if something bad has happened to Konoha's youthful blossom?" Lee cried.

"I'm sure she's fine, most likely training some where" Ino reassured.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted.

"Oh, that's so useful Uchiha" Tenten said, rolling her eyes with sarcasm.

"Aa" Sasuke grunted "Oi, dobe isn't that Sakura's bird?" Sasuke asked.

"…I think so" Naruto said.

"If that is Guyver, there is a good chance that she'll be near by" Sasuke voiced.

"I see" Naruto chirped.

"We'll check if she's here, you guys continue searching, we'll contact you if it is her" Sasuke said.

"Hai"

--

"Alright, come on Guyver, let's do a little training" Sakura announced as the bird nuzzled into the space between the girl's chin and neck, arriving in the middle of a forest field, which was already set up with targets. Despite the fact that the girl had just come out of the hospital, she was already training, knowing that Guyver would want to be with her after the past three weeks without her. Since her normal attire was slightly dirty from sleeping in it, she decided on a simple long sleeved kimono styled top which was black, red and purple and a beige skirt which reached her mid thighs with slits on either side of the skirt. Underneath the skirt was a pair of black bike shorts and reaching down to her half was a pair of fishnet leggings. Her hands were covered by long black gloves and underneath the kimono top there was a white shirt. Her usual weapon pouches and kunai holsters were on her body in the appropriate places, her hair was tied into two buns like usual and a choker was around her neck.

Her body was still covered in bruises and her legs were killing her, but she still continued on with the training.

"Let's work with weaponry today" Sakura suggested, to which Guyver nodded. Bringing out a couple of kunai and shuriken, Sakura handed them to Guyver and watched as he practiced shooting and aiming the kunai into targets so he could also kill better, given that he had the weapons. By the end of the after noon the two had become in perfect sync, that when Sakura would throw random kunai or shuriken, Guyver would one way or another be able to grab a hold of it from no matter what angle or direction and get it perfectly in the centre of the target.

"Well done Guyver" Sakura nodded "Did you want to start working-"

"SAKURA-CHAN!!!" Naruto cried as he and Sasuke ran up to the girl.

"Sakura" Sasuke growled as he stalked up to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"Nani?" Sakura asked innocently.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Well, if you must know, Guyver and I are about to begin training with jutsus" Sakura said, getting her self out of Sasuke's grasp.

"Are you that stupid?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"What I do in my life is none of your concern" Sakura glared, turning her back on the two males and began walking away, beckoning Guyver to follow her.

"Sakura stop" Sasuke ordered.

"Onegai" Naruto pleaded.

Upon request, the girl stopped and turned her body slightly so she barely faced them.

"Stop getting your self involved with my life, I don't need nor want your help" Sakura glared before she and Guyver raced into the distance, disappearing almost instantly.

"Well…Technically we found her…" Naruto sweatdropped.

"Now how to tell Tsunade-sama" Sasuke muttered.

--

"knock, knock"

"Come in" a voice called from the inside of the door.

"Let's brace ourselves" Tenten warned as she opened the door and walked in with the rest of the Konoha Twelve behind her.

"Well hello there you lot" Tsunade smiled. The Konoha twelve inwardly sighed in relief, thinking that may be she had forgotten about the so called 'mission' she assigned them a few hours ago.

"Hello Tsunade-sama…" Tenten began.

"I presume that since you are all back together you have found my apprentice correct?" Tsunade asked "Where is she?"

"Well…you see…about her…" Ino stuttered.

"She…is…currently not with us" Hinata finished.

"Then where is she?" Tsunade asked.

"…"

"Well?"

"We couldn't find her" Neji answered.

"But Sasuke-teme did catch her, but she got away!" Naruto explained hastily.

"Ahh…" Tsunade nodded calmly, making the shinobi in the room that she didn't care so much any more "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT ELEVEN SHINOBI COULDN'T FIND A GIRL WITH PINK HAIR IN THIS VILLAGE?!?!?!??!?!"

"Well…" Tenten sweatdropped.

"And you call your self Konoha shinobi" Tsunade spat disgustedly.

"Demo-" Suddenly the door flung open revealing an annoyed Sakura and Guyver above her head.

"Ok, what do you want? I've had all of these guys attack me today, plus ten other shinobi in the village" Sakura glared.

"Why did you leave the hospital?" Tsunade fire back.

"Because I'm fine" Sakura countered.

"How could you be fine? Do you want me to get the list of everything that you had received?" Tsunade challenged.

"I'm not stupid, I know what I got in battle, but I'm saying that I'm perfectly fine!" Sakura retorted.

"How the hell could you be fine? You shouldn't even be walking?!" Tsunade yelled.

"I'm a medic remember? You're not the only medic in the building" Sakura glared.

"You healed your self?" Tsunade shouted.

"Damn straight, I ain't waiting for things to heal on their own" Sakura spat.

"You stupid girl!" Tsunade yelled.

"I may have just woken up like many other patients, but unlike those patients I have much large chakra reserves than one would imagine!" Sakura declared.

"I don't care if you got chakra reserves like a damn demon! You shouldn't have healed your self after just waking up! Heck, even I thought that you would be in a coma for a while still!" Tsunade growled.

"Well, news flash, I'm not in bed and I'm not unconscious so stop pretending that I am-"

"That's it! I'm placing you under house arrest for disobeying my orders from the beginning" Tsunade shouted.

"I dare you" Sakura sneered.

"I will; you are officially under house arrest for two months!" Tsunade declared.

"Oh, and who will be the one who will check to where if I am still there? For all you know I could disappear in the dead of the night!" Sakura glared.

"If you won't stay at your house I will force you upon another house hold!" Tsunade challenged.

"Like who?" Sakura challenged.

"Uchiha" Tsunade said.

"You are leaving something like house arrest to a mere chuunin?" Sakura glared.

"No I'm leaving it to a mere jounin!" Tsunade retorted.

"Since when was Uchiha a jounin?" Sakura yelled.

"He's been a jounin since two weeks ago and by the way, if you don't like the idea of living at the Uchiha's I can find at least three other people to keep an eye on you including Naruto, Hinata, Neji and Tenten" Tsunade informed.

"What would he know any way? He's only been a jounin for a week, what good would that do?" Sakura spat.

"It seems to me, a lot more experience than meets the eye" Tsunade remarked.

"Tch, you're going to have to do a lot to even get me to _think_ of the idea, but I tell you now, it ain't happening" Sakura snarled as she turned her back and walked towards the door.

"You leave this room now and I will take it as a disobedience of my orders! You will be placed on mediocre missions and working constantly at the hospital if you do leave" Tsunade threatened.

"Tch" Sakura sneered before she paused at the door with her hand on the door handle.

"Reconsidering are you?" Tsunade smirked.

"No, I just remembered something" Sakura paused, shuffling through her jounin vest pocket for she pulled something out and tossed it behind her back so it landed on Tsunade's desk upright; it were two scrolls "Those are from my latest mission before I was put into a coma" Sakura informed before she disappeared out the door with Guyver right behind her like a dog on a leash. It seemed like Sakura not only inherited super human strength and medical ninjutsu from the Godaime, but also inherited some of that spit fire attitude.

--

"It's almost complete" Sakura murmured as she glanced at jar full of the red thick liquid. She was in the Haruno residence again, and like usual, in her room, at her desk this time, examining a tall jar of blood. The smell of the blood was sickening if the lid was lifted, just one whiff of the pungent smell and you would most likely be dead, but that was half of the point in the jar. Inside the jar was blood, her blood, the blood she would use soon, technically on her self, but not for her self. A few years of blood shed was in this jar, each day, though it seemed sadistic, she kept to a routine of dropping at least five drops of blood into the small jar and let it ferment. If she was away on missions, she would usually take it with her for long missions, shorter missions; she would catch up with the blood spilling as soon as she returned. Though it may baffle many to why she would do such a thing, the truth about it was that it was the final key to releasing her inner demon and freeing her soul from a heavy burden.

'_It's not much longer now, only a few months and it will be complete'_

'_**Are you sure you want this?'**_

'_Of course'_ Sakura mused as she glanced down at her bare arms. It seemed like a long time since she had seen the pale skin of her arms and the black tribal markings that criss-crossed and twirled around her arms in a spiritual fashion. Both arms held these markings; it was her curse, yet also her gift. Somewhat embarrassed to explain what the markings were, Sakura figured that she would just cover them up when they appeared; which was the day of the final part of the chuunin exams all those many years ago.

'_**The Akatsuki are getting stronger'**_

'_So am I'_

'_**I know, but I'm just worried what would happen if they caught you'**_

'_I won't let anything happen to you I promise'_

'_**I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about you!'**_

'_Don't. You put my safety before yours then the whole world is gone'_

'_**Then maybe you should get some one involved'**_

'_I don't need their help, I only need to last a little longer and then both of us will be happy'_

'_**But what if you can't?'**_

'_Don't worry, I won't and can't let that happen'_

'_**You remember what happened to Gaara right when they caught him what if they…'**_

'_It won't happen, you keep working on what you want to; I'm going to go train'_

'_**I know you won't like this suggestion as much, but if your going to train, start working with Yoshi and Fuka but you need to do it properly'**_

'_I was thinking of working with them today, it's about time I start working with them anyway, Otou-sama would like it if I did'_

'_**Have fun'**_

'_I will'_

--

They were beautiful, one light, one dark. They glimmered in the light beautifully and shone under the stars. In the night sky their sheen was even better to view in the dead night than it would be in the life of day. Standing alone in the forest Sakura stood strong with Yoshi and Fuka, the three of them looked like they were made for each other. Obviously because Yoshi and Fuka were crafted and born at the same time, they were made for each other, the inseparable duo; made for her, and her alone.

The pink haired girl sighed, it had been ages since she trained with the two, last time she did it was when she was young and could barely hold up one, now when she was sixteen she could carry the two together without even lifting a finger, speaking metaphorically of course. Yoshi; the name meant good, how appropriate for the blade to have such a name. It was a double headed katana, meaning that no matter what side the blossom chose to hold the weapon, she could put it to good use. The handle was white, decorated with an intricate pink cherry blossom pattern and black circles. The blades on both sides were long, extending to at least a metre each way. The blade held beautiful character and colour as it shone in the night sky, giving one the appearance that the weapon was merely for display not for battle being cut at exact dimension and holding the perfect shape of what any perfect katana should look like.

Like its pair, Fuka was also a blade and double headed. Fuka; meaning bad, was the more appropriate name for this one as the main colour was black for the handle, having the same intricate blossom pattern going around the handle and white circles. They were hers, made for her and no one else, customized to her body shape and design, the fitted perfectly in her palms as she danced with the blades under the starry sky.

Unlike the day, Sakura was now wearing heavy robes of black, white and a slight amount of pink. Her long hair was released and her feet were in pathetic sandals which clanked where ever she made a step and clonked whenever she even considered moving, not mention, they were incredibly heavy and uncomfortable. Like usual, she wore her weights, however unlike during the day, her weights were multiplied by hundreds, making it nearly impossible for the girl to move.

The Haruno theory: if one could move gracefully and strongly with the heavy garments, uncomfortable sandals and loads of weights without slashing them selves or their hair, then they would be ready for any situation. You see, in the heavy garments and shoes, it made it already impossible to move since they robes were long, dragging across the ground while the sandals could and did fall off at almost every movement. If she could move with the garments on with out even creating the slightest tear and not lose her sandals while not making any noise then she was half way to perfecting her movements with Yoshi and Fuka. Then came the weights, weights in general making it hard to move, thus it means you would have to use more strength to just get the tiniest of movements, once a person gets extremely fast _with_ weight on, imagine the speed they would achieve _without_ weights on.

Since the weapons them selves were heavy, it would make it easier once weights were removed, you could kill in the blink of an eye. Now, the not losing a strand of hair, it was common knowledge that Harunos (when they were still around) loved to look spectacular, loosing even one hair could be fatal to their appearance, and so, if even a small snip of hair was removed it was already punishment in its own right. To be able to move gracefully without hair getting in their way was a skill, and still making it part of one of their many assets was something Harunos were remarked for. The garments teach them that they can battle in any situation no matter what it is, the weights give them power, speed and stamina, something needed in any battle against enemies, while the hair teaches them how to dodge everything while still keeping every strand of hair on their body safe. Yes, the concept was abstract but any genius could see the logic in it.

Continuing to practice with her blades, Sakura became lost in their world, becoming oblivious to the world of reality where a dark character began stalking his way towards her. Her long hair swayed with her as she danced with the two swords as she mastered her techniques, the blades becoming actual extensions of her body it would seem.

"Sakura" the voice called out alert her, bringing her back to the world of reality as her reflexes kicked in and launched the swords towards the voice. The girl's eyes widened, not expecting to see Sasuke in the middle of the forest in the dead of the night. Looking to where her blades were pointed, Sakura inwardly sighed in relief, they had yet to hit him, if they did, well he would be as good as dead, and then there'd be no hope in the restoration of the Uchiha clan.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura glared.

"So you almost stab me in the heart and all you say is 'what are you doing here?'" Sasuke questioned.

"Answer the question" Sakura ordered.

"I was curious to see who it was who had such long hair and was using swords at this time of the night" Sasuke explained, staring in awe at the length of the blossom's hair, which almost reached her ankles.

'_Absolutely beautiful'_ Sasuke mused as he looked over the pink tress girl, admiring her beauty _'She must have been the one from before'_

_FLASH BACK…_

'_Dear Sasuke, _

_I know maybe I should give you something more than this letter, like maybe some roses or something, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Had I not been captured by your brother and used as a hostage, I'm sure you would have been able to complete half of your ambition and get your revenge. I really am sorry; I hope you'll forgive a burden like me._

_Sakura'_

'_Sakura thought she was a burden?' Sasuke muttered as he read the note over and over again; as if checking to make sure Sakura had wrote it, to make sure he read correctly. He did read correctly, his ever confident, strong team mate was considering her self the burden when he fought his brother. Yes he did stop his attack because she was held hostage and had a kunai to her neck; which he wasn't expecting, but she got out of her own predicament without much hassling from any of her team mates. She reckons that first blow could have been a hit if she wasn't there but even if she wasn't Itachi would have used Naruto has a hostage, and he would have still not hit Itachi. Who knew the best genjutsu user he knew was so blind at times?_

_Crumpling the note into his pocket, Sasuke stalked out of the room and headed towards the Ichiraku Ramen stand where Naruto and the rest were about to begin dinner. Glancing to the side of the hospital, though he wasn't totally sure who it was, Sasuke saw a girl on the top of the hill next to the oldest cherry blossom tree with her palm on it as she watch the sun set, with her long locks released as they swayed with the constant breeze. If he didn't know any better he would have thought that to be Sakura, because the person had pink hair, but that could just be a play his imagination from the sun set. But in his mind, she was absolutely beautiful, who ever that girl was._

…_END FLASH BACK_

"Well now that you have found that out, if you'll excuse me" Sakura said before she turned around and continued moving with the weapons, occasionally she would unconsciously add fire or lightning to the blades, making the katanas seem like they were blade of fire not just plain metal swords.

"Since when did you start with swords?" Sasuke questioned.

"I've always known how to, I've just never put it into context" Sakura explained.

"But then why start now?" Sasuke questioned.

"Because I missed working with them, besides any good Haruno should know the art of blade wielding" Sakura said.

"Then why take your hair out, and what's with the get up? That can't be easy to train in" Sasuke mused.

"It isn't, which is the point of the garments and hair, I don't do things for no reason" Sakura scowled.

"And how does that help?" Sasuke questioned.

"The garments can teach a person to learn to adapt to any situation, hence the heavy, long robes and pathetic shoes, long hair ensures that you would be able to dodge anything an opponent could through at you and still keep every hair on your body" Sakura said.

"Then what of strength? You have nothing for that?" Sasuke inquired.

"Not only do the clothes weigh a great deal, the swords are generally heavy, and along with those as weights, I have weights all over my body helping me with strength, speed and stamina. Right now, my weights alone is some where in the tens of thousands" Sakura explained.

"Is that how you gain your incredible speed?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes" Sakura answered.

"Why do you need to do this? I thought you were already strong enough as it was" Sasuke said.

"You have your desired destination to head to in life, as do I" Sakura said.

"And where do you intend to end?" Sasuke asked.

"That's my own personal information" Sakura said.

"Can you tell me?" Sasuke questioned.

"Don't get your self involved in my life" Sakura said before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke and cherry blossoms.

"Silly girl, I became involved in your life the day we became Team Seven" Sasuke chuckled.

_FLASH BACK…_

_As Naruto sat down next to Sasuke, unwillingly, Iruka came in with a piece of paper; Sakura presumed that it would be a list of all the genin teams._

"_Today, you will found out your genin__teams. Each squad is a team of three, with two males and one female each assigned with a jounin" Iruka explained._

"_First up. Team Seven; Uzamaki Naruto, Sakura and" Iruka paused for a moment "Uchiha Sasuke assigned to Hatake Kakashi" Iruka announced. _

_A series of wails could be heard from Naruto as well as every fangirl in the class._

"_Iruka-sensei, why should a great ninja like me, paired up with a stupid-ass ninja like Sasuke-teme" Naruto complained aloud._

"_Because Naruto, Sasuke scored the top of the class with Sakura, unlike you, who scored dead last" Iruka smirked. Naruto 'hmphed' and sat back down, mumbling profanities._

…_END FLASH BACK_

--

"How come we can never find her?" Ino sighed.

"Maybe we haven't looked hard enough" Hinata suggested.

"Hinata-chan, we all have gone through the city of Konoha ten times as well as twenty metres around the city, and didn't find her" Tenten sighed.

"We lifted up every pebble in hopes to find her" Shikamaru added.

"Why are you looking for that bitch anyway?" Karin questioned.

"I would advise that you don't call our friend a bitch or anything else but her name in our presence" Ino threatened.

"And we all second that" Tenten added.

"Ano, Karin-san, don't you have the ability to search for people by detecting their chakra signature?" Hinata asked.

"Yea, why?" Karin asked.

"You're going to start helping us with finding Sakura-chan" Naruto declared.

"And why would I do that?" Karin sneered.

"Because if you don't, you'd find your self in a very unfortunate predicament with the Hokage" Ino threatened.

"Yea right" Karin spat.

"I wonder Tsunade-sama would say when she found out that you declined in helping finding her favourite student, the last time some one did that, well let's just say they were never heard of again" Neji smirked, the others around him grimaced remembering what happened to the poor chuunin who failed to find the pink haired girl, which ironically added the emphasis that an angry Godaime is not something Karin would like to come in contact with.

"Fine, I'll help you, but I won't do it willingly, and only Sasuke-sama can come!" Karin glared.

"Karin" Sasuke glared.

"…" Karin glanced towards Sasuke to find him glaring at her "Fine, _all_ of you can come" Karin muttered before she focused and began searching for Sakura's chakra signature.

"Well?" Ino asked.

"Found her" Karin announced "Twenty degrees in the north east direction. Fifty metres from where we are right now, she's not moving" Karin said.

"Are you sure?" Ino asked unsurely.

"Do you doubt my abilities?" Karin glared.

"No, it's just"

"That area"

"There's nothing there apparently"

"Well she could still be there" Karin insisted.

"Alright, let's just go check it out" Tenten suggested.

--

"See! We told you! There's nothing here!" Ino glared.

"But I swear; I can feel her chakra signature here!" Karin insisted.

"Hyuuga, check if there's a genjutsu" Sasuke said.

"Aa" Neji nodded "Byakugan!" Neji exclaimed as the veins around his eyes increased while he stared at the site before them, next to him, Hinata was also using her bloodline trait.

"Well?"

"I-I" Hinata began.

"The Byakugan is being blocked by something" Neji stated.

"Then there must be a genjutsu here" Ino said.

"But then Byakugan should be able to detect it" Tenten retorted.

"Sharingan" Sasuke muttered as his eyes turned red "It is a genjutsu" Sasuke confirmed "A very strong one at that; I have no doubt that this is one of Sakura's genjutsu techniques"

"Kai!" Ino exclaimed as her hands moved into the seal of the tiger, glancing back up at the empty field, Ino gasped when she realized the technique to remove the genjutsu didn't work.

"Guys, I didn't work" Ino gasped.

"Then let's do it together all at once" Tenten suggested, instantly everyone moved their hands into the seal of the tiger.

"Kai" they all shouted.

Nothing happened.

"This is definitely Sakura's jutsu" Neji voiced.

"There must be a trick to removing this genjutsu, let's think, what would Sakura-chan do to make the technique" Hinata said.

"Knowing her, there must be like five or so different 'Kai' techniques to remove her genjutsu, and because it's a strong genjutsu, it probably involves the twelve zodiac hand seals" Shikamaru analysed.

"What's so great about her anyway? Every one always calls her 'Sakura-sama'. I don't think she's worthy of such a title yet" Karin spat.

"Karin" Sasuke reprimanded.

"What do you expect me to say?" Karin exclaimed "All she did was waltz into the Sound base and Sasuke-sama went with her willingly! The only fighting was with Orochimaru-sama and Kabuto-san! There wasn't even a team with her!" Karin glared.

"She's the first to gain such a high rank so quickly in such a short time, people admire her for her strength, which is why they call her 'Sakura-sama', not only that, she has defeated many of the Akatsuki members on her own and has the skill level of the elite ANBU ops" Ino explained.

"So?" Karin spat.

"You may not like her, but we don't care, we're here to find Sakura-chan, not argue with you" Tenten declared.

"Let's start this" Neji announced as each of the Konoha twelve had their hands into a different hand seal of the zodiac.

"Damn, we need one more, Karin hurry up and help us!" Kiba ordered.

"No, get some one else to do it" Karin spat.

"Karin" Sasuke seethed; his tolerance for the woman was getting thinner and thinner.

"…" Karin stared wide eyed "Fine" Karin muttered as she moved her hands into the final hand seal of the zodiac.

"One, two, three" Tenten counted

"KAI!" the twelve shinobi shouted. Instantly, the scene changed from an entirely empty field to another section of Konoha. Rows and rows of Japanese styled houses lined up together in sections, each in a quarter. A path separated each quarter which lead to a centre house, which is presumably the main house. House spread out for kilometres making the twelve shinobi gasp in surprise when they realized how much bigger Konoha actually was with the Haruno district viewable. Despite the fact the land was deserted, it was still full of life with the ground covered in lush green grass, chopped to an appropriate height, flowers, bushes and trees went on for miles around the district, decorating and furnishing the district adding colour to the plain brown coloured house. On each house were different coloured lanterns with a white circle in the middle of each one. In simple, it seemed like a fairy tale, it seemed too good, too beautiful to be real.

"Sugoi!" Tenten whispered to her self.

"Amazing" Ino nodded.

"Hopefully she's here" Hinata mused.

"Aa" Sasuke grunted.

"Well, I'm going to go since I'm not needed any longer" Karin huffed before running away from the district.

"Well, that was easier then expected" Shikamaru voiced.

"Let's go" Naruto cheered as he stepped foot onto the land. Instantly as his foot landed onto the green grass the ground began rumbling and shaking violently, scaring the Konoha shinobi. Worried that something bad would happen Naruto bounced back towards where the other shinobi stood and stared wide eyed as the ground began to rise forming a wall around the entire district. With the ground rising, roots of near by plants also rose up, forming another wall, stopping any intruders from coming in, if they got passed the wall of fire in front of the earth wall.

"You spoke too soon Shikamaru" Chouji sighed.

"We should have known that Sakura wouldn't have left it to be so easy to get into this district" Neji grumbled.

"All we have to do is wait for this to go down and then we can go and find our youthful cherry blossom!" Lee proclaimed.

"The walls and stuff rely on chakra correct?" Shino asked.

"Yea, this guys is basically a first hand example of what her kekkei genkai can do" Sasuke explained.

"Which explains why she was able to close the ground on me so easily during the chuunin exams years ago" Ino mused.

_FLASH BACK…_

'_Impossible! She beat Ino's jutsu!'_ _Shikamaru exclaimed._

'_She used up too much chakra before, that's why she wasn't able to do the jutsu properly' Asuma believed._

'_Though Ino had chakra left, that wasn't the reason Ino had to leave. Sakura's will power is strong and she won't let any one get in her way. Naruto just helped a little however, you both should have minimum chakra now' Kakashi stared in amazement._

"_Like I said before, I won't work" Sakura smirked breathlessly._

"_What…who…are you?" Ino questioned "You have two minds?"_

"_Every girl should know; to over power a little bitch, you gotta face them straight on. My strength is greater than you would imagine" Sakura explained "Now then let's finish this" Sakura began flashing her hands in a quick series to perform the 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'; creating three more of herself before charging after Ino._

"_You think a petty attack like that will stop me?" Ino shouted as she hit each clone, making them disappear to reveal none of the clones were Sakura._

"_No but this will!" Sakura shouted as she pulled the girl down into the earth __**"**_**_Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu _****_(14)_****_" Sakura shouted as she emerged from the ground smirking at Ino, drawing her kunai to the captured girl's neck._**

**"_Now, this is a rather pathetic situation" Sakura snickered "The ground around you, is slowly closing in since I altered this jutsu, you have a kunai to your neck, either you give up, or you will perish either by kunai or by the ground"_**

**"_I refuse to give up!" Ino shouted._**

**"_Are you sure about that?" Sakura questioned as the ground grew tighter and her kunai became closer to killing her._**

**"_Sakura-chan, don't!" Naruto shouted._**

**"_Yamanaka, I ask you again do you give up?" Sakura asked._**

**"_Never!" Ino growled._**

**"_Fine" Sakura stood up and closed her palm, ready to squash the girl._**

**"_Sakura! Enough!" Sasuke shouted breaking the girl out of her reverie and into shock._**

…_END FLASH BACK_

"I think around that time it was still a very dormant ability, or she didn't realize she was doing it at the time" Sasuke said.

--

"What are they trying to do?" Sakura wondered allowed as she glanced in the direction of the main gate of the Haruno district.

--

"So if this is done by chakra, all we have to do is wait for her chakra reserves to run dry and then we can get to her and take her to Tsunade-sama without any trouble" Tenten voiced.

"Theoretically" Neji nodded.

--

"I thought you said, that if her chakra runs dry the walls will go poof!" Tenten exclaimed.

"I also said it should happen theoretically" Neji retorted.

"But if this runs on chakra it should have been gone by now!" Ino whined.

"It does run on chakra" Sasuke said.

"But it's been five days!" Hinata exclaimed.

"She has said that she has an unfathomed amount of chakra in her reserves" Sasuke commented, watching the flames continue to burn from nothing.

"That means we could be here for ages" Ino wailed.

--

"It's…been…three…damn…weeks!" Tenten seethed.

"Where does this chakra come from?" Hinata exclaimed.

Suddenly the walls seemed to fall, crumbling into the nothingness that they came from. As the final wall fell, the Konoha gasped ion surprise when they saw Sakura standing there with a slightly irritated look on her face. She wasn't wearing her usual Shinobi attire which was a change, just a pair of black three quarter cargo pants and a long sleeveless Chinese styled white and red top. Her arms were covered by loose white arm warmers which were decorated with red trimmings, like usual she had her black gloves on. Her shoes were black ninja sandals and her hair was like it usually was. Her ninja equipment was on her as usual just as a precaution but other than that she looked pretty casual today.

"Just what do you guys want?" Sakura glared.

"Tsunade-sama wants you" Ino said.

"No she doesn't, Guyver has already gone to Tsunade and told me that she just wanted her sake back from a while ago, which was returned about five weeks ago" Sakura stated.

"So that means…"

"You have just wasted three weeks of your life waiting for this to come down to talk to me, how pathetic" Sakura sneered, walking back into the district.

"Chotto matte!" Naruto exclaimed as the twelve shinobi chased after her.

"What have you been doing these past few weeks?" Tenten asked.

"Nothing, just food shopping" Sakura answered.

"How could you? You had that wall up for three weeks!" Ino exclaimed.

"It is my jutsu you do realize?" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"But how?!" Kiba asked.

"A shinobi never reveals their secrets to their jutsus" Sakura sneered "Anyway, is there a reason you guys are following me?"

"No, we just wanted to see where you live" Ino smiled. Suddenly Sakura began coughing violently as she fell to the ground and began coughing up bucket loads of blood.

'_Damn, this is what I get for not training for three weeks properly!'_ Sakura cursed as she continued to choke.

"Sakura-chan!" Ino exclaimed as she bent down to the girl's level and began rubbing her back.

"Get away from me!" Sakura rasped.

"What?!" Ino exclaimed.

"I said get away from me!" Sakura shouted before she pushed Ino away, ran a couple of metres ahead of the group and jumped at least twenty metres in the sky. As she reached the twenty metre mark in the sky, a massive explosion erupted from the girl, emitting a white, blue, green and pink light, sending the girl into all compass directions before she fell back to the ground, battered and bruised, blood dripping from her body and clothes ripped all over her body. Alerted that she was falling Sasuke immediately jumped towards her and caught her in his arms before landing on his feet awkwardly on the ground a couple of metres ahead.

"Sakura-chan!" Ino and Tenten gasped as they ran to the Uchiha who was cradling the blossom gently.

"What the hell was with that?" Hinata questioned.

"Let's just take her to Tsunade-sama" Neji said.

--

"So you found her?" Tsunade sighed in relief but stopped when she realized how torn up the girl looked.

"What happened to her? You guys didn't fight with each other right?" Tsunade asked.

"No we didn't, she just started randomly coughing up blood before she ran away from us, jumped into the air and something around her exploded" Ino explained.

"Do you realize who ridiculous that sounds?" Tsunade questioned.

"We know, but that's what happened" Tenten insisted.

"Well, let me have a look at her" Tsunade ordered as she motioned for Sasuke to bring her over, which he did almost immediately. Glancing over the girl, Tsunade seemed to nod occasionally taking in everything about the girl.

"Is she okay?" Naruto asked warily.

"I think she should be fine, I'm not sure of the cause to why she was coughing up blood" Tsunade frowned "You may all go except Uchiha, he has a mission" Tsunade announced. Complying with her orders the Konoha twelve left except for Sasuke and Sakura.

"You want me to take care of her correct?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea, but…"

"But?"

"Something triggered the explosion as you guys claim it to be, there are basically mini explosions happening all over her body right now" Tsunade said.

"And?" Sasuke asked.

"I think we need to see what it is that is causing this to happen, and why she was coughing up blood" Tsunade said.

"And when are you going to do this?" Sasuke asked.

"Now" Tsunade announced before she ripped off the girls shirt and arm warmers and gloves. Both Sasuke and Tsunade's eyes widened in shock as they discovered many intricate patterns all over her arms and down her back, they went all over her arms, both arms identical to the other, no mark on her arms was the same as any others on her arms. All went in a different direction to the previous, interchanging their sizes and length and designs. It was, in simple, amazing.

"Well, that was unexpected" Tsunade voiced, ignoring the Uchiha who was slightly flustered, not expecting the woman to rip of her shirt like that.

Aa" Sasuke grunted, looking over the girl, the only cover the girl now had on her was her black sports bra which covered her chest snuggly, speaking of her chest, who knew it was so…busty…

"I don't get why she would have hidden this, I mean it's just a tattoo" Tsunade pondered. Sasuke scrutinized the girl and the marks covering her, black and white, it seemed like an odd colour if she were to have it as a tattoo, further more, when on earth did she get this so called tattoo? They would have noticed sooner or later.

"Wait…" Tsunade murmured as her hands traced the markings.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

"These markings, they have chakra coming off them, it's like it's burning her" Tsunade analysed.

"So?"

"That means it's not some simple tattoo, it is part of her" Tsunade realized.

"Which means?"

"I have no idea, I have never come across anything like this, further more, I can't find any cause for the reason to her coughing up blood" Tsunade frowned "I'm have no choice but to hope that when she wakes up that she'll tell some one what's going on with her"

"I'll take her then" Sasuke announced as he picked her up again.

"Before you leave" Tsunade motioned for him to come towards her. Walking wearily to the woman, Sasuke was slightly surprised when she took off her green jacket and tossed it over the pink haired angel in his grasp.

"Now we won't have any unwanted stares directed at her" Tsunade smiled.

--

Sasuke watched the blossom sleep in his black and blue covered bed. She slept soundly, without any troubles it would seem for now. Not liking the idea of sleeping on the couch, Sasuke changed into his usual sleeping gear of whatever boxers he was wearing at the time and a black t-shirt and crawled onto his bed, snuggling under the covers, savouring the unusual warmth of his bed, falling asleep next to the already slumbering blossom. Unconsciously, the girl moved closer him for warmth while Sasuke had snaked his arms around her waist holding her close to him protectively.

--

Morning arrived almost as quickly as night left. Shuffling under the covers, Sakura found her self enjoying the comfort of the foreign warmth in the bed she was situated in. It was so unusual to have this kind of warmth first thing in the morning while in bed, there were usually at least three or four cold spots under the covers, but right here and now, the bed was heavenly warm, which Sakura enjoyed incredibly. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that there was some one else in her bed, but then, why the hell would there be anyone else in _her_ bed? Well at least she thought it was her bed…Turning over to her side, Sakura was completely oblivious to the fact that she was in some one's arms and was –dare I say it- _snuggling_ into their hold, savouring their warmth.

Slowly she awoke, revealing to the girl that she was _definitely_ not in her bed, heck she wasn't even in her _room_. Blinking slightly, Sakura's eyes widened when she realized that amazing warmth from during her sleep came from the person she was sleeping with, the person who had their arms protectively around her petite figure, what's worse is that she didn't have her shirt on and all that was there was a sake smelling over-coat? Looking up, Sakura inwardly sighed in relief when she realized that it was only Sasuke she was sleeping with. Sure it seemed slightly awkward, but Sakura felt comfortable in his arms, but despite feeling slightly comforted by the fact it was Sasuke and not some drunken hobo, however Sakura still jumped in surprised and pulled her self out of his grip, squeaking in pain as she fell into an uncomfortable and awkward position on the wooden floor. Alerting Sasuke, who woke up suddenly when he realized he was being pushed against and his little _teddy bear_ had suddenly disappeared, which meant his heat source was also gone. Looking around his room, Sasuke was slightly amused to find Sakura staring wide-eyed at the boy, in a rather weird position, but it was still pretty cute.

"You alright there Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he pulled him self out of bed and walked over to the silent girl, it seemed she forgot she only had her sports bra on as a top.

"What am I doing at your place?" Sakura asked. She only really recalled being in this place once before and ironically it was when she had awoken from another slumber.

"You answer my question first, why were you coughing up blood yesterday? What with those explosions?" Sasuke asked.

"That's-" Suddenly the girl began coughing up more blood over the wooden floor boards, slightly scaring the youngest Uchiha. Going over to her side, he immediately began rubbing her back in an attempt to stop her coughing. Slowly the coughing up blood died down and the only sound in the room were the blossom's struggled breaths and wheezing.

"Sakura, why did you just cough up blood?" Sasuke asked, helping the girl onto the bed, continuing to rub her back.

"I-" Sakura gasped as shots of pain burst through her system, becoming stronger with each passing second.

"What's wrong Sakura?" Sasuke asked hastily, now holding the girl closely.

"…Argh!!!" Sakura screeched in pain as she doubled over falling into Sasuke's arms. As minutes passed the pain eventually died down to something bearable and allowed Sakura time to breathe and recover.

"Sakura, what the hell just happened? Why did you cough up blood?" Sasuke repeated.

"I…need…"

"Need what?" Sasuke asked.

"To…go…train" Sakura rasped.

"Are you crazy?! You were just coughing up blood! You're in no condition to go train!" Sasuke reprimanded.

"I need to! Other wise I'll just keep coughing up blood!" Sakura choked.

"What do you mean?!" Sasuke frowned.

"I need to train!" Sakura insisted.

"No, you're in no condition to keep training while you're sick" Sasuke frowned.

"Please, just take me to the Haruno district if you don't think I can train!" Sakura pleaded as she began coughing violently. With no choice, Sasuke held onto the girl tightly before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

--

"There happy?" Sasuke grunted as he placed the girl down in front of the Haruno district. It seemed as soon as she placed one foot on the ground she began bolting madly around the district towards the centre with Sasuke right on her tail. Opening the door to the main house, Sakura gasped in surprise when she found Sasuke on the other side glaring at her.

"Stop, just relax, you can't do any training today" Sasuke ordered.

"Move, you don't understand! If I don't train today Konoha won't exist anymore!" Sakura exclaimed before she fell to the ground coughing up more blood.

"What do you mean?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Unlike you, if I don't use my chakra up through training it could end up in a life or death situation" Sakura rasped.

"Explain" Sasuke ordered as he helped the girl up and brought her inside the main house.

"If I don't use up my chakra from the previous day it builds up and stores in my muscles. If I keep this process up, sooner or later my muscles won't be able to hold much and begin to puncture, thus causing me to cough up blood. It get's worse when my lungs become to full of chakra and burst which makes it much harder to breathe. In the worst case scenario, I could literally become the first human time bomb" Sakura explained quietly.

"How could you have so much chakra?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know! It just comes to me, you have no idea the trouble I go to, to keep my self from blowing to pieces, what you saw yesterday was only a minute version of what could happen to me" Sakura choked again.

Sasuke's eyes seemed to soften a fraction _'You train not to improve your self but to keep everyone else around you safe. How long have you been living like this?'_ Sasuke wondered.

"Please, if not for me, just allow me to train for the sake of Konoha" Sakura pleaded.

"But why do you have so much, you kept that wall of elements up non-stop for three weeks" Sasuke frowned.

"That only took up a small amount of chakra and because I had to stay in the district to keep concentrated on the wall, I didn't train, all I could do was buy food" Sakura said.

"I want to see this chakra" Sasuke announced.

"Fine" Sakura muttered before she disappeared in the maze of rooms for a couple of minutes before coming back in her usual ninja attire.

"Hurry up" Sakura ordered as she raced out of the Haruno district with Sasuke on her trail, set up her genjutsu and headed towards the outskirts of the city which was deserted.

--

Sasuke stood wide eyed in awe. The last time he saw a large amount of chakra like hers, it was with Naruto and Gaara, but that was because they had a demon inside them which was their source of infinite chakra, but even they had their limits, here Sakura was using some of the most high-classed jutsus which required untold amount of chakra and she had yet to break a sweat, she wasn't even exhausted like Gaara and Naruto were after they had used so much chakra. Heck, the girl had yet to show a sign of fatigue and looked like she could keep these jutsus up for days. Which made Sasuke question where all her chakra came from, it was this impossible amount, and it just never ended, it was not only odd, but in a way, so unfair. He sometimes wished he could have power like this, and yet there was this girl younger than him by a year or two with more chakra than him times by ten. May be she lied when she said had to work hard to get any where as a shinobi unlike him who was born with natural talent. This girl made him like the person with natural talent and power while he had to work hard.

"Where does all your power come from?" Sasuke gasped.

"I don't know it just comes to me" Sakura lied.

"…" Sasuke started in disbelief.

"And don't even think of wishing your chakra reserves to be like mine" Sakura said.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Because, each day I have to train harder than I did the day before by at least tenfold just so my chakra maintains a stable level" Sakura explained.

"Just how hard do you train?" Sasuke asked.

"That display from before, that would be something I would have done five years ago; multiply that by thousands upon thousands and that's what I'd get for my usual training day" Sakura answered.

"Amazing" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Ano…" Sakura muttered.

"Yea?"

"I…was…wondering, would…you like…to spar?" Sakura asked.

"You offering me the chance to spar? Would I ever turn it down? I believe you still owe me a battle from the chuunin exams from all those years ago" Sasuke smirked.

"Give me a minute" Sakura smiled as she unbuckled all the buckles on her outfit, shocking Sasuke, who believed she was just about to strip and battle stark naked. Glancing at her again, Sasuke inwardly sighed in relief when he realized all she did was take off the top coat version of her outfit, leaving her with a plain black outfit which was exactly the same as her usual outfit except there were no traces of different layers, the buckles were gone and her skirt piece was also dropped to the ground.

"Why'd you take off…err…you're…err…" Sasuke stuttered.

"My weights, I thought I finally owed you a battle without weights, you are jounin after all" Sakura smirked as she massaged her shoulders "Damn, how long has it been since I haven't worn any weights?" Sakura wondered aloud.

"You ready?" Sasuke asked.

"Aa" Sakura nodded.

"One"

"Two"

"Three!" Both shouted in unison as the clashed in an array of sparks. With sharingan activated Sasuke found it the only way to keep up with the pink haired girl who had already begun racing around the battle field in an attempt confuse the Uchiha, which actually would have worked had he not had the sharingan. Though despite the sharingan's aid, he still found it almost impossible to keep up with her physically. Man, may be he should start working with weights just to keep up with her. Bringing out her kunai, Sakura threw the swarm towards the Uchiha one after the other in a bee line in an attempt to get him confused, thinking that he only thought she threw one or two kunai. Sneering at her attempt Sasuke effortlessly blocked them, not suspecting that as soon as he blocked the kunai that they would turn into clones of the girl and aim to punch him all at once. With no choice Sasuke dodged the in coming attack by jumping up and performing his 'Katon Gokakyu no Jutsu', burning the five clones into oblivion.

Sakura smirked, expecting that counter from the boy and appeared above him, attempted to kick him down, in a similar fashion to his 'Shishi Rendan', which was also filled with chakra at that moment. The technique would have succeeded had Sasuke not been prepared and had a doppelganger in his place instead of himself and saving him self from the deadly attack that would have been launched on him if he wasn't careful. Glaring in distaste, Sakura went through the doppelganger, moving her form into a head first form as she fell towards the ground with fist ready to slam into the ground. Upon seconds of reaching the ground, Sakura punched it with a chakra infused fist, revealing Sasuke who was hiding underneath the ground. Glaring at her, Sasuke moved his hands into a couple hand seals as Sakura copied him, completing the exact same hand seal sequence in unison.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" both shouted as fire was launched from their mouths and shot into the other's direction. As the flames clashed both fought for dominance, trying to out do the other before their chakra stream went dry; of course, neither was willing to give up and began pulling out their reserves, enhancing the power of the flames into something much larger and more deadly. As each ball of fire got bigger and bigger, the strain on the two competitors seemed to increase as both increased the power on the fire balls, causing a massive explosion which blew up in the middle of the forest, creating a massive crater. On one side, the Uchiha stood strong in the debris, sharingan activated and searching for a sign of pink through the rubble. He would admit that it was incredibly hard to keep up with the strength of the girl, but there was no way he was going to lose to a girl who just learnt the technique while he knew it since the academy days, not only that, the jutsu was an Uchiha jutsu, it would severely damage the pride of him and all other Uchiha's if a girl at least a head shorter than him could pull it off better than him, a Uchiha Prodigy.

On the other side lay the blossom under massive piles of rubble, not viewable to the human eye. Underneath the rubble almost directly opposite the Uchiha, the girl slowly regained her breath and waited for her chakra to stabilize again. Glancing around at the battle field through the small peep holes of rubble she could see the Uchiha's silhouette standing amongst the dirt and debris that had blown up through the clash of fire. While he was able remain standing and was only moved a couple of feet backwards, she her self was lifted into the air a couple of metres and thrown back violently against the trees which were yet to have been attacked by the explosion. Going literally through roughly seven or nine trees, her force of movement eventually slowed down and was stopped by the final trees, which ironically also collapsed onto her. Gaining her strength Sakura pushed her self up onto all fours slowly as she pushed the rubble off her as she rose.

Relieved to know she was still technically okay, Sasuke moved into a fighting stance a prepared himself for the worst that had yet to come.

"Well, now that we both have properly warmed up, how about we get serious?" Sakura chuckled as she kicked the rubble off her and moved into a fighting stance.

"Of course" Sasuke smirked and brought out another kunai.

"Begin" Sakura muttered quietly. Instantly the two broke off the earth they were on and once again clashed in an array of kunai and shuriken before they moved onto something more vicious and began a brawl of taijutsu.

"Ne, say, do you remember the first survival mission we had with Kakashi?" Sakura wondered.

_FLASH BACK…_

_By five o'clock Sasuke had made his way to the training grounds Kakashi talked about to find that Sakura was already there, throwing kunai at some targets. She seemed focused on her target practice, like Itachi was one day when Sasuke happened to stumble across Itachi training when he was younger. Noticing the presence of one of her team mates near her, Sakura stopped and greeted Sasuke, having a nod in return. Deciding it was better to save her energy; Sakura picked up her kunai from various targets then sat down with Sasuke._

"_You know Sasuke" Sakura started off "The survival training, what do you reckon is going to be in it?"_

"_Hn"_

"_Ahh…the ancient language of the grunts" Sakura mumbled quietly. Sasuke scoffed at that thought._

_Half an hour later…_

"_Morning Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme" Naruto yelled running up to them, clearly forgetting he had to be here half an hour ago._

"_Hn"_

"_Aa"_

_Both Sakura and Sasuke were leaning against a tree, utterly bored to death, and some what in there own world. Naruto being the oblivious one he was didn't notice the fact that Kakashi had yet to come, or the annoyed expressions on both of his team mates faces, directed towards him for talking about what ramen he had the night before._

_Six hours later…_

_Naruto had stopped talking about Naruto and followed Sakura and Sasuke's example by sitting down and leaning against the tree an hour after he arrived. Suddenly a poof sound could be heard as a figure made their way towards the genin, the figure of Kakashi, to be more specific._

"_Good morning my little ninja-wannabes" Kakashi chirped._

"_YOU'RE LATE!!!!" Naruto yelled, scaring of a few birds that were in neighbouring trees._

"_You well, you see, I was helping an obaa-san cross the road and carry her groceries to her home, which is on the other side of the town" Kakashi explained._

"_Who the hell would be up at five in morning with groceries when the stores aren't even open then?" Sakura glared. Kakashi sweatdropped. _

"_Never mind, can we please get on with this survival training" Sakura sighed irritably. Kakashi nodded. _

"_Okay the aim of this training is for you to get these bells" Kakashi said holding up to bells tied together with string "Before noon, whoever doesn't get a bell, doesn't get lunch and will be tied up to the stump while you watch me eat my lunch" _

'_No wonder he told us not to eat breakfast' Naruto and Sasuke glared._

"_But Kakashi-sensei, there is only two bells, how can we all get a bell?" Naruto asked._

"_Exactly, now, come at me whenever you want in three, two, one-" Naruto interrupted him._

"_I'm going to get one of those bells, believe it!"_

"_The one to talk the loudest; usually ends up dead last" Kakashi mocked._

"_Grr! I'll show you dead last!" Naruto growled running up to Kakashi with a kunai in his hand. Kakashi swiftly and quickly captured Naruto pinning his hand with the kunai to his back._

"_Good, you're coming at me with an intention to kill" Kakashi smiled "Now, begin!"_

_In an instant all the genin disappeared and masked their chakra._

'_Good they all seemed to be good at hiding and have masked their chakra-' Kakashi analyzed._

…_Well, most of the genin did._

"_Kakashi face me and fight me" Naruto yelled from a wood stump in front of Kakashi, who starred at him incredulously._

"_You're a little off" Kakashi commented._

"_The only thing off here is your hair style" Naruto shouted as he charged towards the jounin, who blocked the blonde's attack._

"_Let me teach the basics formations of jutsus" Kakashi offered. "First up; Ninja fighting style taijutsu" With that said, Kakashi reached into one of his vest pockets and pulled out-_

…_END FLASH BACK_

"Perhaps why?"

"Maybe it's time we see how far each other has come?" Sakura smirked.

"Ninja Fighting technique one: Taijutsu" Sasuke and Sakura shouted in unison as the two began fighting in hand to hand combat, of course, Sakura did have the advantage, because she had the super human strength, but it was still hard to keep up with Sasuke with his speed occasionally.

"Hn seems your taijutsu could maybe rival mine" Sakura mocked.

"No, it does rival yours" Sasuke proclaimed as he caught her in a neck hold for a second before throwing her to the ground.

"It would seem it has a little while before it gets any where close to mine" Sakura sneered, giving her opinion before she punched the ground with a chakra infused fist and began to run through the brought up earth which was concealing her movements.

"Tch, you may have super human strength, but I can still carry you easily" Sasuke smirked as he appeared behind her, wrapping his arms around her torso seductively before he jumped up into the air and launched her back down into the ground. Gasping in mid breathe when she realized there was nothing to break her fall, she focused chakra into her hands and brought roots up from the ground, just catching her by her feet before she reached the ground. Sighing inwardly in relief, she set herself back on the ground and stood there for a moment, glaring at the Uchiha.

"It would seem we have moved to ninjutsu" Sasuke commented.

"It would seem so, Ninja Fighting technique 2: ninjutsu" Sakura nodded, smirking inwardly. Without Sasuke realizing (at least she inwardly hoped) she began molding chakra and focused on the ground around him as soon as she landed, with the idea that she could capture him as easily as Kakashi did when they were fresh out of the academy. Not knowing what she was planning, Sasuke braced himself for anything, focusing on the girl's movements more than anything, any movement from the girl, a blink, flutter of the eyes, twitch of the hand, it would indicate to him that she was preparing from an attack and so he could counter it without trouble, little did he know that the girl had already gotten him into the palm of her hand and could chakra effortlessly without the bother of hand seals and could easily transfer it through the ground without him even noticing a single thing, sure a Byakugan user might have noticed and the sharingan apparently did some how come from the bloodline trait, but since he didn't have the trait he couldn't tell that chakra was moving around. Slowly the ground opened up little by little under the Uchiha's feet without the male noticing. Smirking inwardly, Sakura opened the holes around his feet completely, so she could bring him down. Shocked that the ground suddenly opened up, Sasuke looked down and widened his eyes in shock when he saw another pink haired girl right underneath him and pulled him under without any hassle.

"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu" Sakura smirked as she rose from the ground and the girl that was above the ground exploded into a cloud of cherry blossoms.

"How nostalgic ne?" Sakura smirked, flicking him on the forehead "And that was pay back for all the times you flicked me in the head" Sakura sneered.

"…" Sasuke glared, inwardly cursing the girl for pulling such an easy trick on him.

"You need improving if you want to get anywhere in life" Sakura mocked. Sasuke glared hard; oh she was going down now! Summoning all this strength, Sasuke jumped out of the earth and launched towards the girl with fury evident in his body language. With kunai drawn, he landed above the girl in a slightly suspicious position as he brought the kunai to her neck. Smirking at his hastiness; Sakura poofed into a cloud of smoke to reveal that she had used the Kawarimi no Jutsu on him and reappeared behind him with a kunai drawn to his neck. Smirking at her own misjudgment, Sasuke also poofed into a cloud of smoke revealing that he had used the Kawarimi no Jutsu as a log replaced his form and he reappeared behind the girl, held her close and drew his kunai to her neck and another to her stomach.

"Gotcha" Sasuke sneered as his breathe tickled the girl's neck, though she refused to show any emotion that could lead to him thinking that she was flustered by his actions.

"On the contrary" Sakura smirked as she disappeared into thin air.

"Geez, how did I miss that one" Sasuke sighed inwardly.

"Ninja Fighting technique three: Genjutsu" Sakura smirked, no matter how good she may have gotten in taijutsu or ninjutsu, she was still the best any where in genjutsu.

"You've had this planned from the beginning?" Sasuke questioned, although it sounded more like a statement.

"Perhaps" Sakura smirked as her hands moved into a couple of seals hastily, but not to quick for Sasuke's eyes, watching her every movement. _'Let's see you try and even figure this one out, let alone get out of it'_ Sakura smirked.

'_What the hell is this? The Sharingan isn't detecting what genjutsu it is!'_ Sasuke exclaimed.

"I presume you have already figured your sharingan hasn't figured out the genjutsu, I'll congratulate you for getting that for" Sakura seemed to applaud "Now let's see if you can get out of it" Sakura smirked as her figured disappeared and all that was left was nothingness. Unsure of how to get himself out of the genjutsu, Sasuke began randomly doing the 'counter-genjutsu' technique in hopes that he would be released using the different hand seals.

'_Failed!'_ Sasuke growled in disapproval, not even paying attention to what the genjutsu was spinning onto him. How odd that the more he seemed to try, the worse the genjutsu became.

_FLASH BACK…_

"_See! We told you! There's nothing here!" Ino glared._

"_But I swear, I can feel her chakra signature here!" Karin insisted._

"_Hyuuga, check if there's a genjutsu" Sasuke said._

"_Aa" Neji nodded "Byakugan!" Neji exclaimed as the veins around his eyes increased while he stared at the site before them, next to him, Hinata was also using her bloodline trait._

"_Well?"_

"_I-I" Hinata began._

"_The Byakugan is being blocked by something" Neji stated._

"_Then there must be a genjutsu here" Ino said._

"_But then Byakugan should be able to detect it" Tenten retorted._

"_Sharingan" Sasuke muttered as his eyes turned red "It is a genjutsu" Sasuke confirmed "A very strong one at that; I have no doubt that this is one of Sakura's genjutsu techniques"_

"_Kai!" Ino exclaimed as her hands moved into the seal of the tiger, glancing back up at the empty field, Ino gasped when she realized the technique to remove the genjutsu didn't work._

"_Guys, I didn't work" Ino gasped._

"_Then let's do it together all at once" Tenten suggested, instantly everyone moved their hands into the seal of the tiger._

"_Kai" they all shouted._

_Nothing happened._

"_This is definitely Sakura's jutsu" Neji voiced._

"_There must be a trick to removing this genjutsu, let's think, what would Sakura-chan do to make the technique" Hinata said._

"_Knowing her, there must be like five or so different 'Kai' techniques to remove her genjutsu, and because it's a strong genjutsu, it probably involves the twelve zodiac hand seals" Shikamaru analysed. _

…_END FLASH BACK_

'_Maybe, that should work'_ Sasuke analysed _'__Rat__ox__tiger__rabbit__dragon__snake__horse__sheep__monkey__rooster__dog__, and __boar__' _Sasuke recited as his hands hastily moved into the twelve signs making it look like he only made one motion while in fact he had made at least twelve. Preparing himself on the final seal, Sasuke concentrated, stopping the chakra flow to his brain and attempted to cancel the illusion.

"Kai" he shouted with force.

Nothing.

'_Silly boy, my genjutsu aren't that easy to defeat'_ Sakura sneered as she watched the Uchiha try to break free from the genjutsu.

'_Okay, so that sequence didn't work then may be another sequence will, but there are so many possible combinations! Think Sasuke, what would Sakura use?'_ Sasuke thought as he continued to think of a solution _'What to do?! I can't stay in this thing forever! It'll drive me insane seeing nothing forever!'_

Sasuke glanced around the world of nothingness.

'_Had I not been in the middle of a battle with the girl, I could actually find this quite comforting, there's nothing to think about here, it could be anything'_ Sasuke thought idly _'With that peaceful tune in the background, I could stay here for a while…wait…peaceful tune? When did that start?!'_ Sasuke exclaimed _'Actually come to think of it, the music started playing as soon as I started thinking about being calm and what not…calm…that's it!'_ Sasuke exclaimed as he sat in a meditating position, concentrated on blocking the chakra stream to his head while still maintaining an extremely calm and blissful façade. As moments passed the so called peaceful and blank nothingness dispersed as the msuci faded out and the breeze started to die down until there was nothing there and everything turned back to the previous scene where he had Sakura had been battling, The ground and earth was still torn into an array of different directions, trees were knocked down and the blossom was there waiting for him. The only change on the battle field is that it was now night instead of day.

"I see you got out of my genjutsu" Sakura remarked. She was sitting on the ground in a rather calm position with her legs crossed; despite the fact the ground was no longer in one piece. Her eyes were closed and her hands were on her knees, and even though she wasn't facing Sasuke face on, he could tell she was smiling some what.

"I suppose I lost that means?" Sasuke questioned.

"No, there is no such thing as winning nor losing with me, it's how you improve" Sakura answered.

"What was that genjutsu? The sharingan couldn't detect it" Sasuke frowned.

"Of course it didn't, that was my own genjutsu I created a long time ago when I was a child out of boredom" Sakura replied.

"As a child?" Sasuke gaped _'I got beaten by a child's genjutsu?!'_

"Yes, I presume since you came out of it, you discovered what you had to do?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, I had to remain calm, why?" Sasuke asked.

"Simple, believe it or not, subconsciously or not, people fear being able to see nothingness, it is almost as if it were death. People fear death more than anything else. However unlike death you still have your thoughts which are part of you, which are part of your emotion. If you are hasty to leave as you were in the beginning you would get no where in getting rid of the illusion. The more emotion you have in your thoughts the worse the genjutsu will become" Sakura explained "It was teaching you to maintain a sense of calmness and impassiveness"

"Why those two out of all things?" Sasuke asked.

"Rule number 25 of the shinobi handbook: A shinobi no matter what the situation must not show emotion in combat" Sakura recited.

"Of course" Sasuke chuckled _'You were always the one to memorize every single rule in the hand book, even the pointless ones, but that one was very important'_ "Well, then I guess I should owe you, and thanks" Sasuke said.

"There's nothing to thank, I'm just helping you as a shinobi. Remember while you live for revenge, hate is not a very useful emotion in battle because as soon as you lose that emotion you lose power, find something else to back up your power in battle, after all a shinobi technically shouldn't even use hatred in a battle" Sakura said as she stood and began to walk away before pausing "Even though a situation may seem deadly and very serious as long as you keep calm and impassive, I believe anyone can over come anything"

'_Intelligence, beauty and strength, you truly are the perfect kunoichi' _Sasuke mused as he followed her out of the demolished field "Oh wait!" Sasuke exclaimed as he ran after her. Deciding it was best to pause; Sakura turned around and stared at the Uchiha running up to her.

"We still need to eat" Sasuke announced.

"I'm not hungry" Sakura said, walking with the Uchiha.

"We trained all day" Sasuke stated.

"I know-"

"Look, just come with me to get something to eat, you have to live with me for a little longer anyway" Sasuke said.

"Why?"

"Tsunade-sama wants you to stay with me for a while or something, and I would come to eat, can you imagine the trouble she'd cause if she learnt you didn't eat?" Sasuke questioned.

"To you yes, I do know the trouble she'd cause, to me, I don't think it has ever happened before" Sakura sneered.

"She favours you way too much" Sasuke glared.

"I know" Sakura sighed _'Which makes it all the more annoying'_ "Look I just want to be alone for a bit, I'll see you back at your house" Sakura insisted before she turned her back and left the Uchiha on his own staring sadly at her back.

--

'_It seems like it's almost time. It's kind of funny how it's almost the one year anniversary since Sasuke came back, man where did that time go?'_ Sakura sighed as she clenched her bare hand into a tight fist while staring at the midnight sky.

--

'_Where the fuck is she?!'_ Sasuke exclaimed. It was now midnight, meaning that Sasuke had left the girl alone now for roughly four hours, surely that would have been enough time for alone time yea? But of course, you could never tell how long she wanted to be alone for, it was actually quite bothersome…Further more, once Tsunade learns that Sasuke let the girl wonder on her own without his surveillance, left alone for four hours, had yet to eat something and was not sleeping at this very moment, he would most likely be a dead man by the time the blonde haired woman became sober again…

Without a choice, Sasuke grabbed his coat and stormed out of the Uchiha district with a scowl on his face and a growl erupting from his throat.

--

High above in the trees just on the border of Konoha sat one cherry blossom, leaning against the trunk of one of the tallest trees in the forest. With eyes closed and breathing stabilized, one would think that she fell asleep, but that of course was to the untrained eye. To others, it was quite obvious she was drowning her self in meditation as she hung upside down on the tree branch, using her chakra to keep her onto the tree, thus defying all laws of gravity. With her hair blowing in the caressing breeze she looked some what a vampire of the night as she hung upside down, since the only part of her body that was actually viewable was her hair, pale skin and gleaming buckles of her attire.

Glaring at her in annoyance, Sasuke stealthily snuck his way up the tree onto the branch just below the girl, which mind you was a fair way up. Inwardly hoping to catch her in surprise, the male snuck directly beneath her.

"Oi, Sakura, it's time to head back inside to rest" Sasuke announced, snapping the girl out of her trance. It seemed for a second that her body took over a shock phase before going into her normal impassive self and stared down at the Uchiha with boredom.

"…" she made no comment, not because she didn't know how to answer it, she just felt she had no need to answer it. Her eyes were glossy and dull; she wasn't even paying attention to him, as far as he was concerned, she was just as good as being asleep if she was like this.

"Come on" Sasuke ordered, staring back up at her with just as much intensity.

"…" again she made no comment.

"Sakura, are you even listening?" Sasuke questioned. Suddenly the girl fell from the branch as her eyes closed and she plummeted towards the earth. Instantly, scared for the girl's safety (and his own) he launched out to get her and caught her in his arms as he landed on another branch on another tree opposite to the tree they were on moments ago. Sasuke sighed in relief, they were both safe. Looking down at the girl in his arms, Sasuke's eyes seemed to soften a tiny fraction, she was asleep. It seemed like she fell asleep while meditating upside down, maybe her response from before was just a normal reaction to expect from the girl. She was fast asleep; it looked rather cute as she snuggled into his hold trying to get some warmth when a harsh gust blew through the tree tops, making her shiver in discomfort and cold.

Sighing, Sasuke held the somewhat fragile girl close to him before he made a mad dash towards the Uchiha compound for some rest which his body was begging for at the moment.

--

"You!" a voice snarled accusingly towards the pink haired girl who was just walking down the 'Team Kakashi Bridge'. Turning around, Sakura wasn't at all surprised to find Karin behind her, pointing at her and glaring with all the hate, anger, disgust and overall dislike of the girl she could muster.

"You! You! I'll kill you!" Karin proclaimed as she began charging towards the pink haired girl with multiple kunai drawn and began throwing them one after the other at the girl.

'_What the hell? What's with this intent to kill coming from her? What'd I do this time?'_ Sakura gasped inwardly as she dodged every attack Karin threw at her. Knowing subconsciously that with the angered Karin in the middle of the village was not a good idea, Sakura sent the girl a mocking wave and began dashing off into the training fields of Konoha, which were much more blank than anywhere else in the town. Passing by her other teammates came as no surprise to her as they looked at her weirdly when she dashed passed them with such speed. Moments later when they were about to follow the girl to see what she was running to or to find out why she was running the four males stopped dead in their tracks as a blaze of red dashed passed them and followed the path of the girl. Blinking in confusion for a couple of minutes, the team slowly pieced everything together and widened their eyes in fear of both girls' safety. Sighing inwardly, they followed the two hasty girls in hopes of catching up to them, and preventing any deaths…or near deaths…

--

"What the hell? What the fuck is your fucking problem?!" Sakura exclaimed as she continued to dodge more kunai and shuriken that the red head kept flinging at her, which was actually getting harder now since she had increased the weights she wore.

"You know what the fuck you did! You fucking slut!" Karin yelled in anger.

'_Where have I heard this tone before?'_ Sakura wondered as she continued dodging the weapons.

"And I'm not the only one angry" Karin seethed.

'_Oh no, don't tell me…'_ Sakura winced inwardly.

"I guarantee you will have half the town after you by sunrise" Karin glared, charging at the girl with more kunai.

'_It is…'_ Sakura sighed _'Fangirls…man it's only been five weeks since that incident…'_

"I have no idea what I have done so you better make it simple here; I have still got to go buy food for the week" Sakura lied.

"You dirty little tramp!" Karin glared, attempting to stab the girl with her kunai.

"Would you stop that?!" Sakura glared "It's getting annoying!"

"You don't know shit! I told you Sasuke-sama is MINE!!! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUST WALTZ IN HERE AND TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME!!! HE'S MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Karin shouted "HOW DARE YOU SLEEP WITH HIM, YOU DON'T OWN HIM, I DO-"

"You don't own me Karin" Sasuke glared, interrupting the female's right.

"Sasuke-sama" Karin gasped, suddenly a kunai whizzed passed her nose.

"Listen you little wench, other wise that kunai won't miss next time. You have your facts totally wrong. First off, no one owns anyone, second, because of this, you don't own Sasuke, he is a living breathing human and he has is own right to make the choice on what he will do in his life. Third, I will not stand for a lower rank shinobi to disrespect a higher rank one. I have been very tolerant to you since you came last year, and you have proved yourself worthy to the Konoha military force, however unless you learn your place, you will be terminated. Fourth, the next time you charge at me with kunai drawn while in Konoha borders, while you have your facts mixed up, you will not live. I advise you not to get in my path again" Sakura glared as she threw another kunai which hit her straight in the arm and another dug into her stomach "Learn your place" Sakura growled before she walked off.

"Karin" Sasuke spoke.

"Y-yes S-sasuke-sama?" Karin mumbled quietly.

"I would advise you listen to Sakura, otherwise it won't end pretty for you on your end" Sasuke advised.

"B-but Sasuke-sama! She started it! If she didn't take you away from me and sleep with you I wouldn't have done anything!" Karin spluttered.

"Another thing, get your facts straight, and listen to what Sakura just told you, oh and, I'd get some one to look at the wound, more than likely the kunai had poison on it" Sasuke glared before following the path of the cherry blossom.

"Chotto matte Sasuke-sama! If there is poison, I shouldn't move! Can you please help me?" Karin pleaded.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted as he disappeared.

"It seems she has been very tolerant of you, the kunai does seem to have some poison on it, but that's like one of her least deadly poisons; man, aren't you lucky today?" Sai sighed, picking up the bitchy girl and dragging her towards the hospital.

--

Six months passed, and again, in Konoha it was Christmas. The white fluffly, frozen balls of water fell onto the fire country city gently forming a layer of snow on the buildings and along the streets. Unlike the others who wore layers upon layers of clothing to keep them warm whilst venturing into the winter wonderland, the blossom wore her usual training attire, however, it seemed her skirt piece had been discarded and left at home. Staring in amazement at the girl as she trudged down the town with hands stuffed in her short pockets, many who the girl passed by wondering whether or not she was human. In truth she was human, even though she was wearing a simple tank top, long sleeved gloves, a pair of almost to short shorts (by her standards) and knee high boots, she just didn't care about the weather. If she was going to let the weather rule here life then damn it to hell, she may as well let everyone else do what they please with her! It's not like she could stop training anyway, if she wanted to live to the next day…

Glaring inwardly, Sakura made her way to the hospital, seeing as Tsunade had requested her help out during the Christmas season, since more than likely there will be some one who will be rushed in with only a thread of his life in tact or at least something along those lines. It turned out the Tsunade was serious when she threatened the girl about being under house arrest, or whatever it was, which resulted in her being under Sasuke's ever present watch for a good long and excruciatingly annoying five weeks. And yes it did annoy her to hell and back, but she endured it, despite the fact Sasuke wouldn't let her train as long as she usually would, and he practically shoved food down her throat every hour! (Well in Sakura's opinion anyway)

"Sakura" a voice growled. Turning around, she was slightly surprised to see the whole Team Kakashi behind her, including Yamato. By the looks of it, it would have been Kakashi who growled at her.

"Yes?" Sakura asked, acting completely oblivious to the anger in her former sensei's voice.

"What are you doing out here?" Naruto scowled.

"Taking my shift at the hospital" Sakura answered.

"No you're not" Sai glared.

"Oh? Then what am I doing?" Sakura asked.

"You are coming with us to the Christmas party!" Yamato declared.

"What Christmas party?" Sakura asked _'Wait…they…mean…'_

"The shinobi Christmas party!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Sorry, but I already declined to going, now then, if you'll excuse me, I have a shift at the hospital to take care of" Sakura said as she walked away from the group.

"Sakura, you do know Tsunade-sama cancelled all your shifts today?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, if I have no hospital duties, I'm going to go train" Sakura announced.

"In that?" Naruto gaped.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" Sakura asked.

"Aren't you, I don't know, cold?" Yamato asked.

"No" Sakura answered; suddenly Guyver came flying down and landed on the girl's head "Oh, hey Guyver, sup?" Sakura asked looking up at the bird. Just with one look, Sakura frowned slightly in shock before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Damn, next time we gotta catch her before she does that" Naruto scowled.

"Hn" the other four males nodded in unison.

--

"Are you sure Guyver?" Sakura asked as she ran towards the edge of Konoha, making sure that her weapon pouches were full. The bird seemed to squawk while nodding and followed his master. Following the pink haired girl, the bird made an abrupt turn as they turned into the Haruno district and ran into the main house so Sakura could gather anything else that she needed. In a blurry of colour her skirt was back on, more kunai and shuriken were stuffed into her pockets before she was out of the district again with Guyver on her tail. Making a quick turn, Sakura stopped in mid step and stared in slightly shock, this was not what she was expecting when she turned the corner. In front of her was Sasuke with an eye brow raised and looking at her weirdly.

"Sakura-"

"Move" Sakura exclaimed as she pushed passed him and continued running with a serious look etched onto her face.

"Sakura where are you going-"

"Don't mind me, enjoy the Christmas party, Guyver let's go!" Sakura exclaimed as she jumped into the air while Guyver attached it self onto the girl before the two disappeared in another cloud of smoke.

"What was with her?" Sasuke wondered aloud before he stuffed his hands and begrudgingly trudged to the location of the Christmas party. He was actually hoping that the girl was going to come, so he won't have to suffer by his lonesome self when the Hokage and the rest become so drunk they will well…become…united…in a way…of course, there was also the reason that with the pink haired kunoichi, it was always much more enjoyable and he liked having her around, but he kept lying to himself about that…

--

"What are you doing here?" Sakura growled. Above her head was Guyver, flapping away with anger, much like his owner, only Sakura didn't fly. Okay, so she wouldn't have been so concerned if it was only one team against her, but four? If it was only one team, Sakura would have considered going to the Christmas party, but there were four teams, that's not something you should leave unguarded for a Christmas party she would go begrudgingly to.

"Oh, come now Sakura-san, you should know what we want by now un" the blonde smirked evilly.

"Don't you take time off for Christmas?" Sakura exclaimed.

"You should know by now that we are impatient people, and further more, time is running out, is it not?" Kisame grinned evilly as his teeth were bared.

"…I see" Sakura said as she straightened her stance and glared at the eight Akatsuki members _'If there is Tobi and Deidara as one team, the sand dude and Hidan as another and Itachi and Kisame, who are the others? They've yet to make any noise, and I can't even see their face'_ Sakura scowled as she kept her eye on the eight members.

"Awfully quiet you are, what's wrong, _Ku-ra-_chan" a voice chuckled from behind her; one of the members of the mysterious pair. The voice…it was…female and so familiar…why did it feel like she had heard that voice before?

"Who are you?" Sakura growled as Guyver glared daggers.

"My, my, such rudeness to your _On-ee-sa-ma_" the female chuckled "I would have expected better manners from you my little Imotou-chan"

"Hikari" Sakura growled, glaring at her sister _'If that's Hikari…then…' _"Daiki" Sakura glared, turning her attention to the male who stood by Hikari. Taking off their straw hats, their identities were revealed and it seemed Sakura was correct.

"It's time for you to stop playing around here _Sa-ku_-chan, and tell your bird to stop glaring" Daiki ordered.

"I stopped listening to you a long time ago" Sakura glowered.

"Isn't it a family rule to obey those on a higher level than you?" Daiki questioned.

"Correct, however, it also says if they become missing-nins, they are beneath even branch members" Sakura stated.

"You are correct" Hikari smirked.

"Come with us quietly and this will all be over" Kisame glared, getting impatient from standing out in the cold.

"No" Sakura growled as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Tch, you can't run forever, little Imotou-chan" Daiki cackled as all four Akatsuki teams also disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

--

"Guyver, take this and give it to Tsunade, or some one, just make sure they receive it!" Sakura exclaimed as she stuffed a small note into the pouch on Guyver's leg and continued running. Nodding in understanding, Guyver flew high and back towards the Konoha centre where the Christmas party was taking place.

--

"Mou, I was hoping that Sakura-chan would come" Naruto wailed.

"It's alright Naruto-kun; she probably just didn't want to go" Hinata sweatdropped as she comforted her boyfriend.

"Demo…" Naruto whined.

"You're right though, it just doesn't seem to be the same without every Konoha shinobi here" Tenten sighed.

"Oi, isn't that Sakura-chan's bird?" Ino asked as she pointed to a bird who was sitting on the window seal.

"Yea it looks like it" Sai nodded as the Konoha Twelve made their way over to the window where Guyver sat. Opening up the window the bird immediately flew into the room and made its way towards Tsunade…who was drunk.

"Tsunade-sama" Shizune whined, trying to take her bottle of sake away from her.

"Aww…come on Shizune, it's Christmas!" Tsunade cheered.

"Demo…Tsunade-sama! Guyver-kun is here!" Shizune exclaimed as the bird came down and landed on the chair beside Tsunade.

"What, Sakura's bird?" Tsunade wondered, it was actually quite amazing how she suddenly became sober. Noticing that there was a note in the pouch, Tsunade quickly unclipped it and opened it up. Tsunade's eyes widened in shock as she read the note before they shrank to tiny, angered slits.

'_Tsunade or whoever gets this._

_The Akatsuki are at the borders. I have led them further away from Konoha. Do not come after me. I repeat do not come after me. Uchiha Itachi and his partner are part of the group here. Do not tell Sasuke. I repeat do not tell him and DO NOT COME AFTER ME!!_

_Enjoy the Christmas party, do not tell anyone, it will cause too much chaos and will end in them getting killed if they come after me._

_Sakura'_

"What does it say Tsunade-sama?" Ino asked as she watched Tsunade read over the note again and again.

"It's nothing, just a note from Sakura saying that she won't come to the Christmas party" Tsunade sighed. She had no choice but to follow Sakura's wishes, she didn't want half of the Konoha shinobi after the Akatsuki, it will cause too much of a fuss, and not only that it will show Sakura that she had no faith in her, and that was not something she wanted. Sakura was right though, if they were to intervene, most would end up dead, Sakura has a better chance with them than anyone else in the village.

--

"You can't keep running Saku-chan" Daiki sneered.

'_I said nothing about me running-'_

'_**Are you sure you're alright? You should have called for back up-'**_

'_Don't worry about me; you are not to intervene at all. None of your powers are to be used in this, there are far too many here!'_

'_**But-'**_

'_Not buts, I will do this on my own; we will not part this way!'_

"I said nothing about running did I?" Sakura questioned.

"Deidara-kun tells me you have been improving over the months, over the years, tell me, how strong are you now?" Hikari asked.

"You will just have to find out on your own won't you?"Sakura questioned.

"But of course" Daiki sneered. Instantly all eight members and one blossom clashed a massive light of kunai and shuriken; sparks flew as weapons hit with weapons and jutsus collided with each other. In seconds the eight members surrounded the girl and threw kunai all at once, hitting her instantly, only for her to explode into a log.

"You can't get me with such pathetic techniques" Sakura spat as she punched the ground with a chakra infused fist, sending the earth towards the sky along with all the Akatsuki teams.

"Funny I think Itachi-san said that a couple of years ago" Kisame sneered.

"He did, only I did get him with more pathetic techniques" Sakura chuckled.

"Itachi-kun you let down your guard didn't you?" Hikari sneered.

"Only twice, you can't blame me, she was ten, had pink hair and was half my size" Itachi glared.

"You underestimated her-"

"You guys know I am here right?!" Sakura sweatdropped "Hyouton: Haryu Moko" Sakura whispered as she made the hand seals behind her back. Instantly an ice tiger-dragon surfaced out of the snow blanket and began gallivanting towards the conversing Akatsuki members.

"You catch us off guard that easily" Hikari spat.

"I know" Sakura smirked. Suddenly the ground began shaking violently like an earthquake and white wolves came out howling towards the Akatsuki members, holding them in place. Behind them was another blossom who had her hand on the ground, obviously the one who punched the ground, while the other created the wolves.

"You think that this can keep us still for long?" Kisame snapped.

"No" Sakura glared as began performing another set of hand seals "But this will!" Instantly a dragon of water shot up from the near by frozen pond and encased it self around the eight members, instantly freezing in place.

"I see, so you have perfected your kekkei genkai, water elements, how unexpected" Daiki smirked.

"But so have we" Hikari exclaimed as they ice began to melt around her. Instantly they dropped to the ground, while Hikari stood with flames in her hands.

"Well no shit! You _are_ older than me ob-aa-sa-ma" Sakura taunted.

"I AM NOT OLD!!!!!" Hikari hollered as she charged towards the girl with flames around her burning.

'_How appropriate that she have fire as her element…temper…'_ Sakura winced inwardly as she dodged the flames that were shot at her. Glaring, Sakura quickly performed another jutsu while dodging Itachi's fire ball jutsu and Kisame's water jutsu.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Sakura exclaimed as she shot balls of fire from her mouth towards the Akatsuki.

"You're so stupid Kura-chan" Hikari sneered as she doused out the flames with her bloodline ability. Suddenly they all became wide-eyed as weapons emerged from the flames, hitting each of the Akatsuki.

"I guess we're even now" Sakura smirked.

"Geez, we're being bested by a fucking girl with fucking pink hair" Hidan scowled.

"I know, isn't it great?" Sakura sneered.

"Man, I will be so relieved to know we have caught her soon, then we can torture her for as long as we want" Kisame chuckled.

"That is if you catch me fish face" Sakura spat as she tossed a snow ball straight towards Kisame, which smacked him right in the face, powerfully, since it was enhanced with her chakra.

"You…I'm going to kill you!" Kisame shouted as charged towards the girl with his Samehada unsheathed. Dodging his attacks as quickly as she could, she fell to the ground and tripped the blue faced man before kicking him in his face as he fell to the ground.

--

"What is the Akatsuki doing here?" Sasuke wondered as he watched Sakura fend against the eight members. He had no idea what was going on as he watched Sakura glare at the members before performing one jutsu after the other. She was taking these people seriously, very seriously. What Sasuke questioned though, is why they were after her, he saw them follow her after she disappeared, he was wondering why they were constantly after her, I mean what could the pink haired girl have? Further more, it looked like a couple of the members she was battle was her brother and sister.

Again the Akatsuki bombarded her (literally) as Deidara began chucking countless clay bombs towards the girl, exploding as soon as they came with in range of the girl. As soon as she was hit by bombs she was sent flying back into a swarm of senbon needles, courtesy of Suna nuke-nin and then flung around the battle field on roots by her own brother by his kekkai genkai. It seemed he had the power of earth elements by his side. Instantly, Tobi, Kisame and Hidan were by her side, beating her to bloody pulp with their weapons and taijutsu techniques. Glaring at the criminals, Sakura jumped up as they were about to hit her again and kicked them away so she could catch her breathe if only for a second. As she stood up properly, the sand nin thwacked her over the head in hopes of rendering her unconscious only to learn that she had replaced herself with a rock, thus making it incredibly painful when he attempted to hit her. What a change to the traditional kawarimi no jutsu. Suddenly Sakura reappeared behind them and performed another jutsu, another jutsu which Sasuke had never seen her use before.

"Sensatsu Suishou" she exclaimed as needles of water and ice appeared out of no where and darted down onto the Akatsuki members.

'_Wasn't that the attack that Haku boy used?'_ Sasuke wondered as he continued to catch.

"Kamaitachi no Jutsu" Sakura exclaimed. Sasuke frowned, the last time he saw that jutsu was with Temari and the only reason she could do it is because she had a fan, Sakura had no tool in her disposal to do that jutsu. Suddenly, two Fuuma shuriken appeared in Sakura's grasp as she jumped into the air and threw the weapons over the top of the Akatsuki members, blowing them back. Sasuke stared wide eyed, not only because she was able to do the jutsu with just two fuuma shuriken, but also because of what the wind picked up and revealed. There, next to Kisame was his brother, he didn't even recognise any of the members with their straw hats on, heck he didn't even know her brother and sister were in the Akatsuki till now. Sasuke growled; he was angry at not only his brother but at Sakura.

How dare she try and steal his revenge off him! Whether it be intentional or not! How dare she take away what has been important for him! How dare she even think she should fight this lot on her own without calling for backup! It just wasn't right! She was putting her self in danger and was taking is life goals away from him! She lied when she said she understood what it meant to chase after something! She lied when she said she wouldn't interfere! To think, he thought he could trust the girl.

Glaring, Sasuke unsheathed his hidden katana and stormed into the battle field, attacking Itachi while he was off guard. As the katana embedded it self into the older Uchiha the male exploded into smoke and reappeared metres away from the younger Uchiha.

"I don't get caught off guard foolish little Otouto" Itachi spoke calmly.

"What are you doing here Sasuke?" Sakura growled as she stood up, blocking the incoming attacks of Kisame and Tobi.

"What do you think?" Sasuke glared.

"Gee, don't get so angry there" Sakura glared as she dodged the fireball jutsu Itachi sent towards her at the same time that Tobi did.

'_This is getting ridiculous'_ Sakura gasped.

"Why are you after Sakura?" Sasuke glared.

"You mean she hasn't told you?" Itachi chuckled manically.

"Told me what?" Sasuke glared.

"That she has-"

"Shut up you little weasel!" Sakura shouted as she stabbed him with her own katana.

'_Where did her katanas come from? They weren't with her before!'_ Sasuke exclaimed.

"It seems you have learnt the art of wielding a katana in the Haruno method" Daiki voiced as he also brought out his katana. It was long, but only had one head to it unlike the girl's. It was green with a feather and leaf pattern covering the blade handle. On the end was the Haruno clan symbol, a white circle. Beside him, Hikari also brought out her weapons. In her hands were two small blades. They were sharp and shined in the snow. The handles were half the blade and were a dark red with flames painted all over it. On the end, like Daiki's it had the Haruno family symbol.

'_Where the hell did those come from, none of them were carrying any weapons'_ Sasuke glared at the pink haired girl, inwardly demanding answers.

"To summon a blade is child's play" Sakura spat, answering Sasuke's silent question.

"Of course, but when you were a child you could barely carry one blade" Hikari sneered.

"But I am also older now" Sakura noted, stabbing her katanas into the ground "This has gone on long enough" Sakura decided. Instantly she put her hands in the seal of the tiger, meditating momentarily before her eyes shot open and her hands raced over every single buckle on her attire. In seconds each buckle clicked before the layers of clothing dropped, and with them, dropped the weights that were carried in the clothes were dropped too. As the weights fell onto the earth, a loud eruption was heard for miles, the rubble and shaking of the earth was in a way, bragging at how many weights she was carrying on her body.

"Well, this seems different, to fight you without your weights un" Deidara smirked.

"Tobi is a good boy" Tobi chirped.

"That was totally inappropriate Tobi un" Deidara sighed quietly as he prepared another clay bomb.

"Hn" Itachi grunted.

"I think you're right little midget, it's about time we finish this, you are coming with us whether you want to or not!" Kisame proclaimed.

"What do you want with Sakura?" Sasuke repeated, as he came back to back with the girl. He was facing his brother, Kisame, the sand Nin and Hidan while Sakura faced the older Haruno siblings, Deidara and Tobi.

"Come on, isn't it obvious, our little Imotou-chan has something the Akatsuki want, and since she hasn't succumb to us for over past couple of years, we have all come in person to fetch her" Hikari chuckled madly.

"Sakura, what do they want?" Sasuke growled.

"I don't know" Sakura lied.

"Don't lie to your little boyfriend there Saku-chan" Daiki snickered as he tied her up with the roots of trees.

"You can't catch me that easily" Sakura proclaimed as she slashed through the roots with a simple shuriken before putting it back in its holster and grabbing her two katanas.

"Elemental Jutsu: Katon: subeta Yoshi. Suiton: subeta Fuka!" Sakura exclaimed, instantly her blades became a lite with two different elements. Yoshi became a lite with fire, which continued to burn all around the both side of the katana while Fuka blended in with water before the water froze and became ice as the ice continued to move like water. In an instant Sakura was dashing towards her only remaining family and the other Akatsuki members with furry, if they were going to try and take her, she wasn't going down with a hell of a fight. Tossing the blades up into the air, Sakura made three quick hand seals before the blades came back down to earth and caught them before her body became limp.

As time passed, no one made a move as they watched the girl, not knowing what she was up to. In seconds the girl disappeared from sight. No one made a move, for some one who just made a big fuss over her jutsu, she was no where to be seen or heard of, mist began piling into the battle field on the bucket load. The only sound that was heard were the screams of pain coming from each Akatsuki member as Sakura struck them down with her techniques, but they didn't seem to go down in shame as with each hit she made on them, they made three more on her.

Blood dripped down from an unknown source, leaving a trail for the Akatsuki to follow, assuming the blood trail was the girls. Instantly the three Haruno siblings clashed with their blades sending sparks against the other. Suddenly the girl was struck down by Kisame and his shaving blade, sending pain through her system, and yet she refused to show it by screaming or even wincing where people could see her.

'_**Let me help you please!'**_

'_No! I will not risk your safety!'_

Suddenly clay molded around the girl's body, encasing her in the mould and held her above the ground.

"Now you come with us peacefully as you are and no one will get hurt un" Deidara threatened.

"You kill me and you lose what you need" Sakura glared.

"You lied then Sakura huh?" Sasuke glared.

"…" Sakura glanced over at the boy, before her eyed widened in fear "Sasuke! Look out behind you!" Sakura exclaimed. Behind the youngest Uchiha was the sand-nin and Tobi who were prepared to attack him and send him down to the pits of hell and death. In front of him were Itachi and Daiki who were also aiming to kill him mercilessly.

"I should have killed you with the rest of the clan" Itachi sneered. Instantly as their weapons closed down on the Uchiha a wall of earth came up on either side of the male who stood in shock and blocked the attack with a wall of ice which was molded with the earth.

"Daiki what are you doing?! You're helping the enemy!" Hikari exclaimed "You were aiming to kill him not block our attacks!"

"What are you talking about? That wasn't me!" Daiki scowled who was in a fighting stance beside Itachi who had a rather upset smirk on his face, damn what a sadistic bastard.

"Then if it wasn't you…" Kisame muttered. Instantly all Akatsuki eyes turned to the captive girl; who wasn't actually paying attention anymore and kept staring at Sasuke with relief in her eyes.

"Well, well, it looks like you're a lot better than meets the eye" the Suna Nin chuckled. Instantly all the missing nins chuckled evilly as the ganged up on the blossom.

"SAKURA!" Sasuke exclaimed as he began charging towards the girl in an attempt to block the attacks. The girl came back to her senses immediately as she stared wide eyed in shock for a moment before they changed into a look of pain as the Akatsuki members attacked the girl with their strongest attacks. As their attacks landed, she was released out of the hold of the clay and flew back into a lone tree which stood covered in snow. Sakura struggled to get up, and began leaning on the tree for support, breathing heavily.

"So you can use all the elements eh?" Hikari sneered "If you think you're so great then think again!" Hikari exclaimed in hidden jealousy as they charged towards her again; however this time she was ready and began blocking the attacks with Fuka and Yoshi in her grasp. Despite being sufficiently injured and most likely on the last of her chakra, the girl moved with speed, elegance and grace of a person who had just began battling.

"You will not get her!" Sakura proclaimed.

"That's what you think!" Daiki sneered.

"You will not use what I have for your own things!" Sakura shouted, stabbing her brother deep in the gut before withdrawing the blade and stabbing Tobi in the arm.

"Either you come with us now, or we will get you when you're unconscious!" Kisame growled.

"I'm not going anywhere! Konoha is my home, and unlike you traitors I will not defect just because my I can!" Sakura proclaimed, blocking Kisame's Samehada with her katanas.

"You can continue saying that all you want Saku-chan, but if we don't take you, you your self will destroy Konoha with your bare hands" Daiki stated.

"What do you know? Like I would ever destroy something that means a lot to me" Sakura glared.

"Look at us, we did" Hikari smirked.

"W-what are you talking about?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"I'm sure you remember the Haruno massacre; that was all our doing" Daiki smirked.

"W-what?!" Sakura gasped, leaving her self open for a second, but that was all the Akatsuki needed to charge at her, hitting her across the battle field.

"Those men you killed, they were our accomplices, of course, it was us that told them how to destroy the clan" Hikari smirked.

"W-why? Why would you kill your own family?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Because, we were testing how strong the clan was, and obviously it wasn't very strong" Daiki sneered "You see; we saw how they all acted every day, so Hikari and I thought it would be fun to see them suffer. It just happened on that date that we had planned to do everything, we had a mission. It was pretty convenient if you ask me" Daiki cackled.

"Just to test how strong the clan was?!" Sakura shouted angrily, blocking the incoming attack of Tobi and Deidara, and firing blasts of water and snow at the Akatsuki members at random in blind rage.

"Oh, and to test how strong you were, to see if you were really worth all the fuss the elders put on you" Hikari sneered.

"You…you…I HATE YOU!!!" Sakura snarled as her chakra levels began rising immensely, much like Naruto when he gets angered and his Kyubi power is released. As her powers increased, the black and white markings began to increase over her body and began slithering over her skin similarly to the curse mark Orochimaru gave to people. In the centre of her eyes, her pupils became invisible as they turned green before the entire eye turned black with red dots spotting through and a blue turning to yellow outer layer. Growling angrily, her black clothing slowly began to tear and shred, as if the markings were burning her skin and the clothing in contact with it, there was still a sense of control as only the rims of her clothing were ripping.

"Finally! It's coming out!" Hikari chuckled watching the amazing levels of chakra emitted off the girl. Suddenly there was a massive explosion as weapons of all sorts flew everywhere, hitting all the Akatsuki except Itachi, and left Sasuke unharmed who was staring wide eyed at how much her chakra had increased by.

"You will die!" Sakura exclaimed as she performed another water jutsu. Jutsu after jutsu came and hit the members, especially her older brother and sister continuously. The only one who was spared from her wrath was Itachi, but Sasuke assumed that was because she was oblivious to the male or blinded by her rage to care he existed. Scared to shock, all the members could do was throw weapons at her continuously which punctured her former pale skin and tainted the creamy skin a bloody red while her hair was also stained. With fear evident in their eyes, the nuke Haruno siblings turned to each and nodded before separating to both sides of the battle field, picked up the unconscious Tobi, Deidara, Hidan and the Suna nuke nin and fled cowardly from the battle, leaving a smoke bomb and a couple of explosive tags in their place. Behind them was Itachi and Kisame who were also following at a slowed pace.

Pausing for a moment, Kisame stared on at the enraged girl who was chasing after her siblings in attempt to capture and kill them. Glaring at the girl for how she had beaten him, Kisame began chasing the girl as well, drawing is shaving blade back and driving almost entirely through the girl had she not jumped in time, getting her side instead. Cursing to her self, Sakura faced Kisame with a deadly glare before charging towards him with her katanas drawn ready to stab the fish man. Shouting an angry battle cry, Sakura lunged her blades into the mist traitor before she was tossed away, knocked down by Kisame's sword and rendered unconscious, allowing the Akatsuki organisation to make a quick retreat.

Sasuke's eyes widened in fear.

Standing up from the ground, he dashed to the unconscious girl who was tainting the red liquid through the pure white snow. It seemed like forever as he kept running to the girl, fearing that if he didn't get there in time, she would be lost in the white desert and he would never find her. Pumping chakra into his feet, Sasuke raced to the girl, skidding on the icy ground as he came to an immediate halt and stopped in front of the bleeding blossom. Sasuke stared down at the beaten girl with fear evident in his eyes.

'_Sakura! Don't die on me!'_ Sasuke pleaded as he picked up the fragile girl gently bridal style and raced towards the centre of Konoha where the party was taking place. As he ran back, he came to a realization, she didn't hit Itachi, she only hit him once, but it seemed that was an accident on her part since the attack was aimed for Kisame but he hit her out of the way half way through the attack.

'_Why?'_ Sasuke questioned looking down at the withering girl.

--

"That note wasn't just saying that she won't be attending was it?" Kakashi asked as he looked over to the blonde woman, who had yet to get sober again since the letter received.

"You know your student well?" Tsunade questioned, although it seemed like more of a statement.

"What's happening?" Kakashi asked.

"Perhaps we should go else where" Tsunade said, motioning to the fact that there were many of her friends in the room and she didn't want to worry them.

"Of course" Kakashi nodded as he followed the woman to the balcony of the building which was covered in snow and ice.

"What did she say?" Kakashi asked.

"She said that the Akatsuki were here" Tsunade answered.

"Then why didn't you send others to help her?!" Kakashi exclaimed, fearing his student's death.

"Well, first, she did not give a location, second, she said not to follow her" Tsunade sighed.

"There's more" Kakashi stated.

"Yes there is, one of the members she said was Uchiha Itachi" Tsunade frowned.

"Then there is no way-"

"That's what I thought" Tsunade sighed.

"Then why didn't you send some one?" Kakashi frowned.

"Because, other than the fact we don't know where she is, she said for us not to go after her saying that the shinobi here would not stand a chance against the missing-nin group and it would be safer if they didn't come" Tsunade replied.

"She said to enjoy the Christmas party didn't she?" Kakashi asked.

"How'd you know?" Tsunade asked, shocked.

"Because she always thinks of others before her self" Kakashi replied "Even as a young genin it was not about how she did something, it was how she did it as she kept the safety of her team mates" Kakashi explained "That's probably why she prefers solo missions instead of team ones, she doesn't have to worry abut the safety of her team as a whole, she only has to worry about her self"

"But, the problem is…"

"You don't know what's happening and you are worried about her safety against the Akatsuki" Kakashi finished.

"Yes. She didn't claim how many members there were, last time she was ambushed by them, it was four members and she was placed into a critical condition" Tsunade sighed.

"Don't worry, she knows how to handle her self" Kakashi smiled _'At least I hope she does…'_

"Yea" Tsunade nodded.

"Let's go back in" Kakashi suggested as he walked back into the building where Jiraya was following a blonde kunoichi around like a perverted lost dog.

--

'_Please, just hold on Sakura!'_ Sasuke pleaded looking down at the pink haired girl who laid unconscious snuggly in his arms, protected from the harsh snow winds.

--

"You know, I wonder where Sasuke-teme is" Naruto wondered.

"Yea, he said he'd be here" Hinata frowned.

"Maybe he just chicken out" Neji sneered.

"No…I doubt it, he probably went to drag Ugly here" Sai commented.

"What makes you say-"

"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!!!" Sasuke shouted as he stormed into the Christmas party. On his trail were the kunoichi Sasuke fangirls, begging for him to carry them like he was doing with Sakura.

"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he ran towards the Uchiha only to stop mid-step when he found out why the male was so angered.

"Dobe, where's Tsunade-sama?" Sasuke asked urgently.

"I don't-"

"Why you calling me so urgently-" Tsunade paused in her wrath when she realized what was bleeding in the teen's arms "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!" Tsunade exclaimed.

"The-"

"Actually never mind, tell me later, get her to the hospital! SHIZUNE! Come with me! We are going to save this girl!" Tsunade exclaimed before she began charging out of the hospital on Sasuke's trail, with Shizune right behind her, along with another couple of medics who feared the girl's health and followed to help out.

--

Sasuke stared at the red light above the Emergency Operation room. It continued to flash the deadly red as hours passed. Inside the room, among many medics including Tsunade and Shizune was a frail pink haired girl who if he didn't know any better would say she was on the brink of life and death. Seconds, minutes; hours passed since they stormed into that room, scaring the medics their half out of their wits at why Tsunade was running into the hospital at the ungodly hour, sober. For what seemed like for days, for months, for weeks, the girl was in that room, being operated on in the attempts to bring her from the jaws of death and back into the arms of life. This was now the third time he had seen the blossom beat up so badly she wasn't almost recognizable, the only real clarification that it was her was her pastel pink hair, and though he had seen this scene before, he didn't like it anymore than he did the first, if anything he hated it more now. Many medics came in and out of the operating room, the ones emerging from the room look depleted of their energy and life. It was a production line, one goes in another comes out, two go out, two more go back in, they go in refreshed and full of energy, they come out almost dead. However, Tsunade and Shizune had yet to come out; it was obvious that they did not intend to leave until the girl was in a stable condition.

The Uchiha outside paced the hallways agitatedly; it didn't help when more medics kept going in and out as well. Upon reaching the twelfth hour of surgery, Sasuke was more than sure that he was going to snap sooner or later if Tsunade didn't come out and give him the results of the girl's condition, it didn't help when he was impatient, especially when it came to issues involving _his_ blossom, and not only that; he was extremely worried for the girl, worried if she would make it out alive or not, whether or not she would still be her self if she survived, whether or not she would abandon the village to get revenge on her brother and sister, in a way, he would assume that she would have felt cheated when she avenged her parents that night they were murdered.

He wasn't the only one waiting for them to come out of the waiting room, along with him, there was the entire of the Konoha twelve and their former teachers, Sai and those little brats Naruto used to always hang out with, however unlike him, they had all fallen asleep on each other while they waited. They waited and waited and waited, one couldn't blame them for falling asleep, waiting for such long periods, believe it or not was stressful and drags on ones mind.

Finally as more hours passed, both Tsunade and Shizune came out of the Emergency Operating room as the red light turned off. Alerted by the sound of people coming out, Sasuke shot his gaze to the door as they blonde haired woman and black haired woman staggered out of the room, at least ten times more depleted than anyone else that came out.

"Well…is she okay?" Sasuke asked slowly.

"She's in a much more stable condition than she was when she came in here, but I don't know if she'll survive, I'm surprised she survived that long, one of the kunai that hit her must have had a hell of a lot of poison on it, it was practically taking up her entire blood stream, she should be dead, I have no idea on how she survived, it was a miracle" Tsunade explained tiredly "The wounds, they were deep, they didn't look it, but they were, whatever the Akatsuki wanted, they were going at such lengths to torture her, yet stopped at the point to keep her alive"

Sasuke stared shocked.

His blossom could have just been taken from his hold, and he couldn't do anything about it.

"If she does survive, she will most likely awaken within six months, and when she does wake up, I am placing you as her guardian, she will stay with you until she has recovered, and just to make sure she recovers properly, I will get Hinata or Neji to block off her chakra points so she doesn't try to escape" Tsunade said "Now, please go to room 336, that's where she's being put, I am also placing you as her guard, she trusts you more than anyone else, the Akatsuki have attacked her before, we will not allow this to occur anymore!" Tsunade explained.

"Hai Tsunade-sama" Sasuke nodded. In a way, he was relieved to know there is a chance (whether it be miniscule or not) of survival, and that's all that mattered. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Sasuke glanced at the shinobi asleep in the hall way and smirked before trudging off to the said room. Slowly pushing the door open, Sasuke couldn't help but released a sigh of relief as he saw the girl there in the hospital bed, sleeping soundly and what looked like it was comfortably. Despite many machines being hooked up to her at the time to keep her alive, Sasuke couldn't help but feel the wave of relief just wash over him, knowing she was technically still alive.

--

Months passed, it seemed like forever as the Konoha twelve waited for the girl to come out of her coma.

_DREAM SEQUENCE…_

'_Where am I?' _

'_Why is it so dark?' _

'_**Get up Sakura'**_

'_What do you want?'_

'_**You have 2 weeks left before **__**it**__** has to happen, are you just going to let five years of your life go down the drain because you're sleeping?!'**_

'_But how do I wake up? I've never been this far into unconsciousness before'_

'_**You have to figure that one out on your own; I'm not allowed to help you'**_

'_Nani?! Onegai! I need your help!'_

'_**No you don't, you're capable of releasing your self out of a coma'**_

'_Onegai! Yamatte! I don't have the strength to get-' _

'_**Yes you do, you've had it all along, I was just here to keep you going'**_

'_Demo, I've never done anything-'_

'_**It's going to be like that after 2 weeks if you get up; you're going to have to learn to accept others'**_

'_Nani? Demo…'_

'_**Just get up, I can't do anything else to help you'**_

'_Yamatte! Onegai! Matte!' Sakura cried as she watched her inner disappear from her vision for what seemed like the first time in a long time. _

"_COME BACK!!!" Sakura shouted as she fell to her knees and shook violently._

…_END DREAM SEQUENCE_

"Come back…" Sakura whimpered in her sleep alerting the Uchiha in the room who was watching her sleep.

'_I wonder what she's dreaming about'_ Sasuke thought while he watched the girl continue to whimper and mutter small sentences like 'Come back' and 'Onegai, yamatte'. Walking over to the girl, he watched the girl fidgeting in the bed, unknown to the fact some one was watching her intently. Not totally understanding her pain, nor her sadness, Sasuke did the only thing he thought was reasonable and held onto her hand while he stroked her other arm in a soothing and calmly matter.

"Shhh…it's ok Sakura" Sasuke cooed quietly into her ears over and over again.

'_I wonder what's making her like this…' _ Sasuke questioned watching the girl struggle to maintain her own sanity _'Maybe she's just afraid of being alone'_ Sasuke concluded after hearing her pleading for some one to come back.

--

Some was stroking her arm and holding her hand in a caring and loving manner, and in a way it was soothing. Some one was whispering into her ear, telling her it's ok, their breath was tickling against her skin, and while it was an extremely foreign and unknown feeling, Sakura felt safe, warm…and loved. It felt odd to have that feeling in her heart since the last time she ever experienced anything like that…was…well…you know…

She felt the warmth of daylight as well, but it was nothing compared to the warmth her hand had, nor the warmth her heart was experiencing. The sheets were rough, and so was the hand holding hers, but, some how it just didn't feel like the same kind of rough, and the hand actually felt smooth. Their breath was warm, tingling her senses, like the humid air around, yet the breathe felt better. Hospitals usually smelt of sterile stuff, disinfectants and rubber, and yet here was this scent, an unusual scent to have in a hospital. It was hard to describe, it was pure heaven and yet Sakura still couldn't place a finger (metaphorically speaking) on the scent. Whatever it was, she loved it and some how knew it was familiar; she just couldn't pick the scent.

Daring to open her eyes, emerald green greeted the world with uncertainty before closing again and reopening, showing a new sense to the girl. Glancing around, she could immediately guarantee that she was in a hospital, she should know the place by now considering the hours she used to work in the place. Looking up, Sakura jumped in surprise when she saw Sasuke's face above her, he must have been the one whispering to her. Jumping back in extreme surprise, Sakura quite literally fell out of the white hospital bed and landed with a loud thud on the floor.

In the back of her mind, she could see her inner smiling at her and saying something.

'_**See, I told you; you didn't need me'**_

"Sakura!" Sasuke gasped as he went to the other side of the bed and picked her up bridal style.

"Itai" Sakura muttered as she was pulled off the ground and back onto the lumpy mattress.

"You alright Sakura?" Sasuke asked with concern in his voice.

"Hai" Sakura murmured as she allowed her self to fall onto the hard pillows _'What am I doing here?'_

_FLASH BACK…_

"_Either you come with us now, or we will get you will you're unconscious!" Kisame growled._

"_I'm not going anywhere! Konoha is my home, and unlike you traitors I will not defect just because my I can!" Sakura proclaimed, blocking Kisame's Samehada with her katanas._

"_You can continue saying that all you want Saku-chan, but if we don't take you, you your self will destroy Konoha with your bare hands" Daiki stated. _

"_What do you know? Like I would ever destroy something that means a lot to me" Sakura glared._

"_Look at us, we did" Hikari smirked._

"_W-what are you talking about?!" Sakura exclaimed._

"_I'm sure you remember the Haruno massacre; that was all our doing" Daiki smirked._

"_W-what?!" Sakura gasped, leaving her self open for a second, but that was all they Akatsuki needed to charge at her, hitting her across the battle field. _

"_Those men you killed, they were our accomplices, of course, it was us that told them how to destroy the clan" Hikari smirked._

"_W-why? Why would you kill your own family?!" Sakura exclaimed._

"_Because, we were testing how strong the clan was, and obviously it wasn't very strong" Daiki sneered "You see, we saw how they all acted every day, so Hikari and I thought it would be fun to see them suffer. It just happened on that date that we had planned to do everything, we had a mission. It was pretty convenient if you ask me" Daiki cackled._

"_Just to test how strong the clan was?!" Sakura shouted angrily, blocking the incoming attack of Tobi and Deidara._

"_Oh, and to test how strong you were, to see if you were really worth all the fuss the elders put on you" Hikari sneered._

"_You…you…I HATE YOU!!!" Sakura snarled as her chakra levels began rising immensely, much like Naruto when he gets angered and his Kyubi power is released._

"_Finally! It's coming out!" Hikari chuckled watching the amazing levels of chakra emit off the girl. Suddenly there was a massive explosion as weapons of all sorts flew everywhere, hitting all the Akatsuki except Itachi, and left Sasuke unharmed who was staring wide eyed at how much her chakra had increased by._

"_You will die!" Sakura exclaimed as she performed another water jutsu. Jutsu after jutsu came and hit the members, especially her older brother and sister continuously. The only one who was spared from her wrath was Itachi, but Sasuke assumed that was because she was oblivious to the male. Scared to shock, all the members could do was throw weapons at her continuously which punctured her former pale skin and tainted the creamy skin a bloody red while her hair was also tainted. With fear evident in their eyes, the nuke Haruno siblings turned to each and nodded before separating to both sides of the battle field, picked up Tobi, Deidara, Hidan and the Suna nuke nin and fled cowardly from the battle, leaving a smoke bomb and a couple of explosive tags in their place. Behind them was Itachi and Kisame who were also following at a slowed pace. _

_Pausing for a moment, Kisame stared on at the enraged girl who was chasing after her siblings in attempt to capture and kill them. Glaring at the girl for how she had beaten him, Kisame began chasing the girl as well, drawing is shaving blade back and driving almost entirely through the girl had she not jumped in time, getting her side instead. Cursing to her self, Sakura faced Kisame with a deadly glare before charging towards him with her katanas drawn ready to stab the fish man. Shouting an angry battle cry, Sakura lunged her blades into the mist traitor before she was tossed away, knocked down by Kisame's sword and rendered unconscious, allowing the Akatsuki organisation to make a quick retreat._

…_END FLASH BACK_

"Sakura…daijobou?" Sasuke asked; concerned to why she suddenly had a frown upon her face.

"I'm fine" Sakura answered, turning her attention to the window.

'_It's all my fault that they died, they just wanted her, they wanted her while she was still dormant in me!'_ Sakura growled inwardly. Suddenly she was glomped by at least three people. Turning her attention back to the hospital room, Sakura was not at all surprised to find Naruto, Ino, Tenten, Chouji, Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru and Lee surrounding her in a big random group hug.

"Sakura-chan! Oh my god! I was so worried about you!" Naruto cried as he hugged the girl in his death grip.

"I'm alright Naruto" Sakura smiled microscopically.

"Are you sure?" Hinata asked.

"Hai" Sakura nodded, watching them all step back, except Ino, who was angry. Suddenly a loud slap echoed through the room as every one stared shocked at what happened. Turning to the blonde, Sakura touched her slightly sore cheek and stared at the girl.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT AFTER YOU'VE BEEN UNCONSCIOUS FOR OVER TWO MONTHS?! Do you have any idea of how worried all of us were?!" Ino yelled.

"Gomen-"

"Don't gomen us! Why did you tell Tsunade-sama not to tell any of us to go to help you with Akatsuki?!" Tenten yelled.

"Because I didn't want to risk your safety" Sakura answered, turning her attention to back out of the window.

"What about yours?! Do you have any idea how long Tsunade-sama spent in the E.R because of you?" Kiba growled.

"If this is what happened to me, imagine what would have happened to you? You don't know how to handle Akatsuki and you would enter the battle hot headed, you would have ended up ten times worse than me! Imagine how Tsunade would deal with that then?!" Sakura growled.

"You calling us weak?!" Chouji growled.

"Did I say that?! I said inexperienced, meaning you don't know how to fight when against the Akatsuki!" Sakura glared.

"And you would be an expert on this?" Neji scoffed.

"As a matter of fact, I am" Sakura said.

"You mean you've versed the Akatsuki BEFORE?!" Lee exclaimed.

"Yes, I have" Sakura answered.

"How many times?" Hinata asked, angrily.

"I've lost count" Sakura snorted.

"How can you lose count?!" Naruto shouted.

"Because I just have" Sakura said.

"Ignoring that, are you just undermining our ability to verse the Akatsuki?" Neji growled.

"No" Sakura answered "Look, we could argue on this topic for hours, and I would rather if you could just leave?"

"Fine, we'll leave" Ino glared before she stomped out of the room in anger, followed by the rest of the Konoha twelve, the only one to remain was Sasuke.

"I'm sure you heard me Uchiha, leave" Sakura growled.

"Can't do that, under Hokage's order, I am to watch you until she sees fit, and you will be staying with me until then" Sasuke stated

"I like to see you try" Sakura snorted.

"Don't bother using any jutsus, Tsunade had Neji block your chakra points" Sasuke sneered.

"Tch, that means nothing to me" Sakura snarled.

"…" Sasuke allowed silence to fall over the room, watching the girl like she was the most interesting thing on the earth; he wondered what she was thinking about and what put her in such a foul mood. Suddenly the door to the room opened to reveal Tsunade, with a slight smile on her face.

"Hello Sasuke-san, Sakura-chan" Tsunade greeted.

"Tsunade-sama" Sasuke nodded.

"Hn" Sakura grunted, not even bothering to look at the woman and found the outside world much more interesting. Knowing that was the only response she was going to get out of the pink haired girl, Tsunade turned her attention to Sasuke, who seemed more interested than the girl.

"I have already signed you out of the hospital, you can take her to your house to get settled immediately; you may leave as soon as possible" Tsunade announced.

"Hai" Sasuke nodded, bowing as the Hokage left the room.

"You heard her, let's go" Sasuke ordered. Sakura made no motion to move and just sat there, staring out of the window.

"Come, Sakura, most of your stuff is already at my house anyway-"

"Get lost" Sakura spat with venom.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke questioned.

"You heard me, get lost, scat, be gone, I don't want to see you in my presence" Sakura growled as she jumped off the bed and out of the window.

"Sakura!" Sasuke gasped as he ran to the window and looked down to find the girl already running away from the hospital_ 'Shit!'_ Sasuke cursed as he also jumped out of the window with Sakura's things in hand and chased after the pink haired girl.

'_Why does she keep avoiding people? What the hell is her problem?'_ Sasuke growled, trying to find the girl amongst the crowd of people. Suddenly a loud explosion from the forest side of Konoha could be heard, alerting all the villagers. Guessing it was her, Sasuke made a mad dash to the forest, non-to-surprised to find Sakura beating the shit out of the forest, and not only that, half the trees were gone.

'_I thought Hyuuga blocked her chakra points!'_ Sasuke growled as he came in between her and the tree, catching her as she was about to punch another tree down.

"Enough!" Sasuke growled as he held onto the girl who kept struggling to get out of his hold.

"Enough Sakura, you need to stop this" Sasuke cooed, not allowing the girl to break free.

"Sakura, please just stop" Sasuke pleaded "Stop this whole thing!"

"Stop what?" Sakura asked as she stopped struggling, much to Sasuke's relief.

"Stop doing things on your own, you have to learn to allow people to help you, stop and let your body recover!" Sasuke said "Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw you battling those eight Akatsuki? How I felt when I saw you fall unconscious in the snow? I thought I lost you!" Sasuke murmured, holding her closer to him as if confirming that she was in fact alive "I don't what I would do if I had lost you, imaging life without seems impossible" Sasuke exclaimed.

"It's ok ne? I'm alright" Sakura smiled "I told you, it takes a lot for me to give up and admit defeat" Instantly; Sasuke's eyes widened in realization, remembering what she had said when they were just genins.

_FLASH BACK…_

_As the new day drew nearer and nearer each ninja and citizen alike came to the Hokage monument clad in black to mourn the loss of the Third; the man who had ruled over the village for a long time and died respectively in battle to save the village and the inhabitants from almost certain doom. Like all the other ninja; even the happy and cheery Uzamaki Naruto wore a frown; showing his regret and sorrow the Third's death; as if feeling like he should have done something to help him. The emotionless Kakashi and Sasuke also held the grim look on their faces as they headed towards Naruto's apartment; as a unanimous decision that they would go the funeral together. _

_As Naruto joined the two other males of Team seven; the three walked towards the Hokage monument; but paused mid way when they found locks of pink waiting patiently for them. Like the males she was wearing black; a black yukata which showed her flawless silky cream coloured legs. Instead of the usual place where her fore head protector sat; the girl tied it around her neck; much like the fashion Hinata used. Bandages covered over her forehead where she head butted Gaara; as well as a patch over her eye and over various places on her skin. Her arm was in the cast that they last saw her in; evidence that bandages were still around the girl's torso were predominant as white showed under the girl's black yukata._

"_Sakura-chan" Naruto muttered; shocked that Sakura was standing like she was and kind of angry that Sasuke was right; and that Sakura was out of bed._

"_What'd I tell ya? You have got to do a lot to keep me down" Sakura smiled forcefully._

"_How can you…." Kakashi murmured as he watched his pink haired subordinate lead them towards the monument._

"_That Gaara boy would have to try harder that what he did to keep me down from protecting what's important to me" Sakura smiled; half confessing that team seven and the village was very important to her; the first ounce of compassion the girl had ever shown since they met her and became a team._

…_END FLASH BACK_

"Sakura, I don't care, I was so scared of the thought that I would lose you" Sasuke confessed, hugging the girl even tighter than before "I thought because my brother was there he wanted another catalyst so I would kill him, but you and them…kept saying something about handing something over. Sakura what the hell do you have that they want?! Do you have a demon inside of you? Is that it?" Sasuke asked. Instantly at the word demon, the girl stiffened, which Sasuke noticed.

"You have a demon in you don't you?" Sasuke asked "It's the only plausible explanation to everything, why you have so much chakra, why they are always after you" Sasuke listed. Sakura had yet to answer.

"What demon do you have inside of you? Two tails? Three tails? Four? Five? Six? Seven? Eight?" Sasuke asked.

"There are more than just those demons Sasuke" Sakura muttered quietly.

"Then which one do you have? Tell me!" Sasuke ordered.

"No" Sakura growled as she began struggling again.

"Sakura! I don't care what demon you have in you, I'm your friend; I want to help you" Sasuke pleaded.

"NO!" Sakura shouted as she continued to try and break free "Why should I tell only a colleague something like that?!" Sakura shouted.

"It's not a requirement as a colleague to tell your tales, but don't I have a right to know as a friend?" Sasuke questioned.

"…" Sakura didn't bother trying to break free and instead focused on keeping her emotions in check as tears felt like they were about to break any minute.

"Sakura, I don't care if you don't tell me, just promise me you'll let people help you do what you need to do in your life" Sasuke pleaded.

"Funny, you sound like her" Sakura chuckled bitterly as she turned her head away and dropped her gaze to the ground.

"Like her? Who? Your sister? Mother? Friend?" Sasuke questioned.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but I can't agree to that promise" Sakura muttered.

"Why not? What's stopping you?!" Sasuke growled.

"You choose to live your life how you like, as do I with mine, please do not interfere in it" Sakura muttered.

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Sasuke glared.

"Our lives may have been intertwined for a long time, but our lives weren't bound together. What happens in my life is none of your concern, so stop getting involved" Sakura murmured.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Sasuke growled, pulling her face up to face his by her chin, only to pause in mid action as he realized why the girl had her face down. Cascading down her cheeks were crystal clear waterways, leaking from her eyes.

She was crying.

For the first time in years, she allowed the tears to fall from her emerald green eyes. She allowed her self to wallow in self pity and in pain. She allowed her emotions to just take over and consume her.

Pulling back from Sasuke's grip, Sakura stood to leave, only to be brought back down to the earth by Sasuke, who had a strong hold on her wrist. Bringing her into a loving hug, Sakura made no motion to move away as she cried her heart out on Sasuke's chest who was stroking her back in a comforting matter, rocking her back and forth, leaning on the trunk of forgotten tree. Looking down at the wad of pink hair in his face, Sasuke sighed inwardly, slightly understanding how she felt, maybe she really wasn't as emotionally strong as he thought she was. Maybe she just locked away all her emotions to prevent people from pitying about her and worrying about her. Maybe all she needed to do was allow people to help her and she could live like the rest of them. Maybe she needed to trust her friends. Maybe out of all the things that needed to be healed after her battle with Akatsuki members, it was her heart that needed the most repair and care to get back to its original state. Maybe the defence around her broken and tattered heart was crumbling into a million pieces like it should have when _that_ happened…

'_**See, it isn't so bad to allow people to help you after all, eh Sakura-chan?'**_ her inner mind questioned, watching the fragile girl continue to leak the salty tears from the depth of her heart.

She cried the pain away. She finally mourned for her parent's, her clan's death. She cried, knowing that it was her fault that they were slaughtered. She cried because she was alone, and wanted help, but refused to allow anyone to get into her defence. She cried from all the pain she experienced over her sixteen years of life. She cried, knowing that some how, she was not alone, and yet still felt alone. She cried, missing Haku, her some what only true brother, she cried, missing Zabuza, her first sensei, and replacement father-like figure. She cried feeling like a burden, like she was weak, just like how she felt on the massacre. She cried, knowing the tears would do nothing to aid her quest in life…

"It's alright Sakura" Sasuke cooed, rocking her back and forth, kissing the top of her forehead continuously in a caring manner.

'_Will you seek revenge now knowing the reason behind your clan's slaughter or will you just get over it?'_ Sasuke asked inwardly _'I don't think a path of revenge suits you'_

--

**Notes:**

-RxR


	7. I'm Leaving

Chapter 6: I'm Leaving But I will Come Back I Promise…

* * *

**Summary: **She was admired, she was worshiped; she was praised. She grew in strength and power, she grew distant towards people. Since five, she had trying to save the people around her, but then she just gave up after her closest friend left her. She had never cried since the slaughter of her clan, but she still smiled, but as soon as he left, everything changed, she stopped smiling, she had forgotten how to. She had saved people numerous times in battle with her knowledge and abilities, she brought them back healthy from the missions they came across, it didn't matter, as long as her whole team came back safely, even if she was on the brink of death, she wouldn't allow her self to die pathetically. She had saved everyone, yet she was the one in need of saving; saving from herself and her decaying heart. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.

* * *

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Inner selves'**_

"Talking"

_FLASH BACK…_

P.O.V

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

* * *

**Recap:**

'_Why does she keep avoiding people? What the hell is her problem?'_ Sasuke growled, trying to find the girl amongst the crowd of people. Suddenly a loud explosion from the forest side of Konoha could be heard, alerting all the villagers. Guessing it was her, Sasuke made a mad dash to the forest, non-to-surprised to find Sakura beating the shit out of the forest, and not only that, half the trees were gone.

'_I thought Hyuuga blocked her chakra points!'_ Sasuke growled as he came in between her and the tree, catching her as she was about to punch another tree down.

"Enough!" Sasuke growled as he held onto the girl who kept struggling to get out of his hold.

"Enough Sakura, you need to stop this" Sasuke cooed, not allowing the girl to break free.

"Sakura, please just stop" Sasuke pleaded "Stop this whole thing!"

"Stop what?" Sakura asked as she stopped struggling, much to Sasuke's relief.

"Stop doing things on your own, you have to learn to allow people to help you, stop and let your body recover!" Sasuke said "Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw you battling those eight Akatsuki? How I felt when I saw you fall unconscious in the snow? I thought I lost you!" Sasuke murmured, holding her closer to him as if confirming that she was in fact alive "I don't what I would do if I had lost you, imaging life without seems impossible" Sasuke exclaimed.

"It's ok ne? I'm alright" Sakura smiled "I told you, it takes a lot for me to give up and admit defeat" Instantly; Sasuke's eyes widened in realization, remembering what she had said when they were just genins.

_FLASH BACK…_

_As the new day drew nearer and nearer each ninja and citizen alike came to the Hokage monument clad in black to mourn the loss of the Third; the man who had ruled over the village for a long time and died respectively in battle to save the village and the inhabitants from almost certain doom. Like all the other ninja; even the happy and cheery Uzamaki Naruto wore a frown; showing his regret and sorrow the Third's death; as if feeling like he should have done something to help him. The emotionless Kakashi and Sasuke also held the grim look on their faces as they headed towards Naruto's apartment; as a unanimous decision that they would go the funeral together. _

_As Naruto joined the two other males of Team seven; the three walked towards the Hokage monument; but paused mid way when they found locks of pink waiting patiently for them. Like the males she was wearing black; a black yukata which showed her flawless silky cream coloured legs. Instead of the usual place where her fore head protector sat; the girl tied it around her neck; much like the fashion Hinata used. Bandages covered over her forehead where she head butted Gaara; as well as a patch over her eye and over various places on her skin. Her arm was in the cast that they last saw her in; evidence that bandages were still around the girl's torso were predominant as white showed under the girl's black yukata._

"_Sakura-chan" Naruto muttered; shocked that Sakura was standing like she was and kind of angry that Sasuke was right; and that Sakura was out of bed._

"_What'd I tell ya? You have got to do a lot to keep me down" Sakura smiled forcefully._

"_How can you…." Kakashi murmured as he watched his pink haired subordinate lead them towards the monument._

"_That Gaara boy would have to try harder that what he did to keep me down from protecting what's important to me" Sakura smiled; half confessing that team seven and the village was very important to her; the first ounce of compassion the girl had ever shown since they met her and became a team._

…_END FLASH BACK_

"Sakura, I don't care, I was so scared of the thought that I would lose you" Sasuke confessed, hugging the girl even tighter than before "I thought because my brother was there he wanted another catalyst so I would kill him, but you and them…kept saying something about handing something over. Sakura what the hell do you have that they want?! Do you have a demon inside of you? Is that it?" Sasuke asked. Instantly at the word demon, the girl stiffened, which Sasuke noticed.

"You have a demon in you don't you?" Sasuke asked "It's the only plausible explanation to everything, why you have so much chakra, why they are always after you" Sasuke listed. Sakura had yet to answer.

"What demon do you have inside of you? Two tails? Three tails? Four? Five? Six? Seven? Eight?" Sasuke asked.

"There are more than just those demons Sasuke" Sakura muttered quietly.

"Then which one do you have? Tell me!" Sasuke ordered.

"No" Sakura growled as she began struggling again.

"Sakura! I don't care what demon you have in you, I'm your friend; I want to help you" Sasuke pleaded.

"NO!" Sakura shouted as she continued to try and break free "Why should I tell only a colleague something like that?!" Sakura shouted.

"It's not a requirement as a colleague to tell your tales, but don't I have a right to know as a friend?" Sasuke questioned.

"…" Sakura didn't bother trying to break free and instead focused on keeping her emotions in check as tears felt like they were about to break any minute.

"Sakura, I don't care if you don't tell me, just promise me you'll let people help you do what you need to do in your life" Sasuke pleaded.

"Funny, you sound like her" Sakura chuckled bitterly as she turned her head away and dropped her gaze to the ground.

"Like her? Who? Your sister? Mother? Friend?" Sasuke questioned.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but I can't agree to that promise" Sakura muttered.

"Why not? What's stopping you?!" Sasuke growled.

"You choose to live your life how you like, as do I with mine, please do not interfere in it" Sakura muttered.

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Sasuke glared.

"Our lives may have been intertwined for a long time, but our lives weren't bound together. What happens in my life is none of your concern, so stop getting involved" Sakura murmured.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Sasuke growled, pulling her face up to face his by her chin, only to pause in mid action as he realized why the girl had her face down. Cascading down her cheeks were crystal clear waterways, leaking from her eyes.

She was crying.

For the first time in years, she allowed the tears to fall from her emerald green eyes. She allowed her self to wallow in self pity and in pain. She allowed her emotions to just take over and consume her.

Pulling back from Sasuke's grip, Sakura stood to leave, only to be brought back down to the earth by Sasuke, who had a strong hold on her wrist. Bringing her into a loving hug, Sakura made no motion to move away as she cried her heart out on Sasuke's chest who was stroking her back in a comforting matter, rocking her back and forth, leaning on the trunk of forgotten tree. Looking down at the wad of pink hair in his face, Sasuke sighed inwardly, slightly understanding how she felt, maybe she really wasn't as emotionally strong as he thought she was. Maybe she just locked away all her emotions to prevent people from pitying about her and worrying about her. Maybe all she needed to do was allow people to help her and she could live like the rest of them. Maybe she needed to trust her friends. Maybe out of all the things that needed to be healed after her battle with Akatsuki members, it was her heart that needed the most repair and care to get back to its original state. Maybe the defence around her broken and tattered heart was crumbling into a million pieces like it should have when _that_ happened…

'_**See, it isn't so bad to allow people to help you after all, eh Sakura-chan?'**_ her inner mind questioned, watching the fragile girl continue to leak the salty tears from the depth of her heart.

She cried the pain away. She finally mourned for her parent's, her clan's death. She cried, knowing that it was her fault that they were slaughtered. She cried because she was alone, and wanted help, but refused to allow anyone to get into her defence. She cried from all the pain she experienced over her sixteen years of life. She cried, knowing that some how, she was not alone, and yet still felt alone. She cried, missing Haku, her some what only true brother, she cried, missing Zabuza, her first sensei, and replacement father-like figure. She cried feeling like a burden, like she was weak, just like how she felt on the massacre. She cried, knowing the tears would do nothing to aid her quest in life…

"It's alright Sakura" Sasuke cooed, rocking her back and forth, kissing the top of her forehead continuously in a caring manner.

'_Will you seek revenge now knowing the reason behind your clan's slaughter or will you just get over it?'_ Sasuke asked inwardly _'I don't think a path of revenge suits you'_

**End Recap**

* * *

They worked into a routine, Sakura agreed to stay at Sasuke's upon the condition that she could go where ever she wanted without a guard, it was too troublesome, so most of the time she only came into the Uchiha residence to sleep, the rest of the time she was out training. Sasuke got used to having some one in his house, and while he questioned why Sakura trained for so long, he didn't press the issue through the first week, and so now moving onto the second week, Sakura spent less and less time in the Uchiha manor and was secretly sneaking into her own manor to do some final things that were going to occur soon. More blood was poured into the tall jar as it mixed with her chakra and the demon chakra inside of her. Though Sasuke was worried to why she spent less time in the Uchiha district, he didn't really care, as long as Tsunade didn't find out that he let her do her own things without surveillance. It was really just a mutual and unspoken agreement between the two, feeling the tension arising in the household of the Uchiha. 

Walking quietly into the Uchiha manor, Sakura trudged into the room she had been given to sleep in and fell onto the bed unceremoniously, not bothering to alert the Uchiha that she had returned and fell asleep almost instantly. In the bag she had with her, was everything she needed for the next day, since tomorrow would be the 11th anniversary since her parents passed on, as well as her 17th birthday, which she didn't realize that some one was planning a party for her, nor cared.

* * *

Morning came as quickly as she returned into the manor (considering she planned on getting up at five and came back at around two). Waking up effortlessly, she quickly snuck out of the manor to gather the flowers from the Yamanaka shop, which was conveniently opened at the time. Collecting her flowers and paying for them, she returned to the Uchiha manor to find Sasuke still asleep. Smiling a small smile, Sakura disappeared from out of his room, and returned to hers. Breathing deeply, Sakura placed the delicate flowers onto the desk in the room and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. By the time she was ready, Sakura's appearance had changed from a shinobi of Konoha to a beautiful maiden. 

She wore a long Chinese styled sleeveless white, red and yellow top which fell to her mid thigh, making it seem like a dress. Underneath the top were many layers of dresses, the first was a ruffled styled knee-length dark red skirt, followed by a mid calf dark maroon skirt in a similar fashion to the previous and the final piece was a full length skirt which was black and like the others. On her arms were long red, white and yellow sleeve arm warmers and under those was black ruffled material which almost completely covered her hands. On her hand were beautiful white gloves, covering her pale hands. Over the top of the attire she wore two coats, the first an extremely long dark maroon colour which reached her mid calf while the one of the top was a brighter maroon colour and stopped mid thigh. All in all like any other outfit like this, it looked heavy and very warm to be wearing on a day like this.

"What are you doing up so early in that kind of outfit?" Sasuke questioned tiredly from the door as Sakura slipped on the final coat.

"Oh, hi Sasuke" Sakura blushed slightly not expecting him up at the hour.

"Well, what's with the get up?" Sasuke questioned walking into the room, taking notice of the bouquet of flowers on the desk.

"Things need to be done" Sakura said before she released her hair from the confines of the buns and allowed them to fall to the earth.

"Your hair never seizes to amaze me" Sasuke commented fingering a strand of hair. Sakura blushed.

"Err…yea…" Sakura nodded, turning around to hide her blush "A-anyway…I gotta get going" Sakura said hastily, tying her hair into a quick ponytail with a black ribbon and running out of the room with her bag.

"Sakura" Sasuke sighed as he appeared at the front door.

"H-hai?" Sakura spluttered as she looked up to him. Slowly, Sasuke's hands come towards her face "Err…S-sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed as he passed her face and finger her hair, untying the ribbons.

"You tied it wrong" Sasuke whispered in her ears as he released her hair before tying her hair up again, tying the ribbon into a cute head band instead, putting the bow onto the side.

"T-thanks" Sakura nodded.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm sure you know the date" Sakura mumbled, turning her gaze away from him.

"Oh, I see, then, I assume you need these then?" Sasuke questioned as he pulled the flowers from behind his back which she left on her desk.

"A-Aa" Sakura stuttered taking the bouquet from Sasuke.

"Also…happy birthday and, you look beautiful…" Sasuke murmured into her ear.

"…A-arigato" Sakura nodded before she ran out, not wanting to experience any more awkward moments. Watching her run, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk.

"So then Sakura, if you are just visiting your parents' graves, what's with the massive bag?" Sasuke questioned, deciding to follow the girl.

* * *

Ten minutes after she arrived at the graveyard, Sakura prayed a silent prayer, dropped off the flower and disappeared into the woods, going deeper and deeper.

* * *

"Just where are you heading?" Sasuke murmured as he began chasing after her.

* * *

Coming to an abrupt halt, Sakura stared out into the lush valley before her. Standing on top of the wide spread cliff, Sakura smiled slightly before getting to work on what she had to do, fortunately, this had all been planned and all she had to do was prepare her self. Stripping her self of the long robes, Sakura left her self with only a black sports bra and short black bike shorts. Her shoes were discarded, showing that the marks were not only on her arms and back but also travelling almost entirely down her legs, the only place not affected by the black and white markings was the skin she already showed the world. Getting out the jar of blood, Sakura focused her chakra on it one last time and mixed the blood, fusing everything together again. Breathing deeply, Sakura flipped the cap off the blood and dipped in a small brush into the liquid, holding her breathe to avoid passing out from the pungent odor coming from the jar. Within a matter of seconds, the girl was covered in an array of symbols, all going down her back and over her arms and legs. There was the dragon seal on her forehead which was in the middle of a yin and yang symbol, next to a kanji symbol for fish. 

'_**You ready?'**_

'_Just about'_

Creating six shadow clones, Sakura ordered them each to move into six different directions, which ended them in six different points so from above it looked like a hexagon with the original directly in the middle. Performing five hand seals, Sakura concentrated her chakra, focusing it to where her clones were standing and mimicking her action.

"Sakura inner seal barrier no jutsu" Sakura whispered as a clear force field arose from the ground into a dome shape, surrounding all seven Sakura for at least a good few metres each way.

--

"What is Sakura doing?" Sasuke whispered, watching her from the bushes behind her. She performed another jutsu, and with his sharingan on, he was able to tell that it was called 'Sakura inner mind seal release no jutsu'. As the jutsu seals were completed, the girl emitted a bright white light as she screeched in pain. Coming out of her eyes and mouth appeared to be black and white bubbling ooze that continued to increase in size, bubbling as if it were boiling like lava. All while she was screeching, another set of markings came onto her forehead that read 'Inner Sakura'.

"Inner Sakura?" Sasuke questioned "Is that her demon?"

As she regained control of her own pain with much struggle, she moved her hands into another series, and this time the jutsu was called 'Sakura Inner Mind Demon Release no jutsu'. Again another bright light emitted off the girl, only this was at least ten times brighter, she was lifted up into the air and her screeching lasted for at least three hours as another Sakura appeared at her side while the black and white bubbling ooze kept pouring out of her being and kept increasing in size and chakra, while Sakura seemed to be losing chakra at unbelievably fast rates. Sasuke couldn't believe the shape of the ooze; it looked just like her; only this one looked like when they were genins, and still had a sense of innocence in her. What was scarier was that she was practically see through and had a white outline, as if she were a spirit and that this…thing held so much chakra, it was like the Shukaku or something, the power was incredibly frightening! As the spirit became clearer and clearer and began to actually form into an exact duplicate of the pink haired girl, the black and white markings along her skin began to change shape into a new set of markings while at the same time slowly fade into an almost oblivion, the only indication that something was there were faint outlines that were practically invisible and the black markings that remained seemed to stand out a great deal on her skin as she began to become paler and paler.

Sasuke then growled. She was right when she said she couldn't keep her promise on relying on other people, because here she was doing something which Sasuke could immediately tell was life threatening and didn't allow any one to know about it. Stupid girl! Even without the Byakugan, he could tell she was becoming extremely low on chakra while the other held at all the other chakra that she had previously, and couldn't keep much of this for long. Jumping from out of his hiding space, he ran towards Sakura only to be thrown back by the barrier she had set up earlier.

"Sakura! Let me in! Let me help you!" Sasuke growled as he pounded on the barrier. As the last of the bubbling liquid formed into a being next to Sakura in the air, there was no doubt that it was an exact copy of her, only this one had markings different to Sakura and was mirrored from black and white to white and black.

"I don't want your help, nor need it!" Sakura growled "Inner demon reform no jutsu" Sakura muttered as she completed another sequence as the Sakura before her slowly turned into a black and white dragon fish, screeching as it reformed and revealed it self to be at least twenty times the girl's height in length. Floating in mid air, the dragon seemed to smile at the girl. As the form of the demon changed, so did the markings on her skin, moving into yin-yang symbols all down her body, which also changed on the demon as the white and black markings shifted and swirled into cherry blossom prints along with the twelve kanji symbols for the zodiac animals.

"Sakura! Let me help you!" Sasuke pleaded.

"No!" Sakura growled "Yin-yang demon Kuchiyose no Jutsu" Sakura exclaimed, punching the ground which released another sealing circle onto the ground. Suddenly a bright light emitted from clouds above as a white and black dragon fish came soaring down towards the girl with incredible speeds. The white and black serpent looked identical to the other dragon, as if the two fitted together in a circle, the only difference was instead of black markings, this dragon appeared to have white markings in the place of the black ones on the other dragon. Around the dragon seemed to be an attachment of the barrier as it came closer to the dome. As the two dragons met up with each other they intertwined, circling each other in a continuous circle, seeming very happy that they finally met up with each other again.

"Sakura stop! You are on way to little chakra! Stop before you kill your self!" Sasuke begged.

"Only a little more" Sakura murmured "Yin-yang, yang-yin merging no jutsu" Sakura exclaimed as the two dragons slowly became connected at the tails as the continued to circle each other in their dance in the sky. As the finally connected in their circle a bright light shone out of their heads and tails, blinding Sasuke.

"Sakura" Sasuke pleaded, watching the two spirits before the girl.

"_**Thank you for finally releasing me"**_

"_You're welcome"_Sakura smiled in her trance like state.

"_**As promised, we will now leave you be in your life and keep the balance"**_ the other dragon spoke.

"_Arigato" _Sakura nodded _"Now, let's finish this" _Sakura proclaimed, performing her final set of hand seals for the day "Dispersing spirit no jutsu" Sakura smiled as the final seal was completed and the two connected dragons disappeared into the clouds, going higher and higher as the jutsu continued, soaring even further than the eye could see.

"_**I will never forget you Sakura-chan, please remember to accept people, you can love again without worrying for their safety"**_

"_I can't ever forget you, I will miss you" _Sakura smiled "Good bye"

"_**Good bye"**_ her former inner demon whispered as the two dragons finally disappeared. Smiling to her self, she released her barrier jutsu as the clones exploded into thin air before she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, landing on her hands and knees as she breathed in deeply.

"Sakura!" Sasuke exclaimed as he ran over to her, coming to a skidding halt on his knees in front of the girl and picking her up, allowing her to lean on him for support "Sakura you baka-girl! I said next time you do something this crazy get some one involved" Sasuke murmured as he hugged the girl lovingly and closely to his face. Looking up into the sky, Sasuke's eyes widened in shock when he realized it was already late afternoon, her little ceremony had lasted quite a long time, which was rather amazing.

Slowly her impassive and exhausted face smiled the brightest smile he had ever seen from anyone.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, I told you, it takes a lot to get rid of me" Sakura smiled exhaustedly.

"Sakura, please, just tell me you're okay!" Sasuke pleaded.

"I'm not going anywhere Sasuke-kun, I promise" Sakura smiled weakly.

"Why? What was that?" Sasuke exclaimed.

"That was her" Sakura said, resting comfortably on Sasuke's chest, watching the sunset in front of her.

'_Her?'_ Sasuke questioned, looking at the contempt smile on the girl's face.

_FLASH BACK…_

"_It's not a requirement as a colleague to tell your tales, but don't I have a right to know as a friend?" Sasuke questioned._

"…" _Sakura didn't bother trying to break free and instead focused on keeping her emotions in check as tears felt like they were about to break any minute._

"_Sakura, I don't care if you don't tell me, just promise me you'll let people help you do what you need to do in your life" Sasuke pleaded._

"_Funny, you sound like her" Sakura chuckled bitterly as she turned her head away and dropped her gaze to the ground._

"_Like her? Who? Your sister? Mother? Friend?" Sasuke questioned_

…_END FLASH BACK_

"What do you mean by her?" Sasuke frowned

"I mean _her_! The Kyubi is to Naruto as she is to me" Sakura said.

"Don't speak in riddles dammit!" Sasuke growled, shaking her angrily.

"I'm not!" Sakura sighed tiredly.

"I'll repeat my question! Who is she? What was that?" Sasuke snarled.

"Kyubi to Naruto, Shukaku to Gaara; Yang-yin to cherry blossom" Sakura explained.

"That…was…the demon inside you?" Sasuke gaped.

"Aa" Sakura nodded.

'_It seems like you're finally free my little Blossom-chan'_ Sasuke smiled hugging her even closer to him _'That demon, it had so much power! It was like you got Naruto's Kyubi power and multiplied by infinity, and it still wouldn't be enough to compare! That's why she trained constantly! If that's how much power it has, and wasn't sealed that kind of power had to be incredibly unstable!'_

_FLASH BACK…_

"_I-" Sakura gasped as shots of pain burst through her system, becoming stronger with each passing second._

"_What's wrong Sakura?" Sasuke asked hastily, now holding the girl closely._

"…_Argh!!!" Sakura screeched in pain as she doubled over falling into Sasuke's arms. As minutes passed the pain eventually died down to something bearable and allowed Sakura time to breathe and recover._

"_Sakura, what the hell just happened? Why did you cough up blood?" Sasuke repeated._

"_I…need…"_

"_Need what?" Sasuke asked._

"_To…go…train" Sakura rasped._

"_Are you crazy?! You were just coughing up blood! You're in no condition to go train!" Sasuke reprimanded._

"_I need to! Other wise I'll just keep coughing up blood!" Sakura choked._

"_What do you mean?!" Sasuke frowned._

"_I need to train!" Sakura insisted._

"_No, you're in no condition to keep training while you're sick" Sasuke frowned._

"_Please, just take me to the Haruno district if you don't think I can train!" Sakura pleaded as she began coughing violently. With no choice, Sasuke held onto the girl tightly before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. _

…_END FLASH BACK_

_FLASH BACK…_

_It seemed as soon as she placed one foot on the ground she began bolting madly around the district towards the centre with Sasuke right on her tail. Opening the door to the main house, Sakura gasped in surprise when she found Sasuke on the other side glaring at her._

"_Stop, just relax, you can't do any training today" Sasuke ordered._

"_Move, you don't understand! If I don't train today Konoha won't exist anymore!" Sakura exclaimed before she fell to the ground coughing up more blood._

"_What do you mean?!" Sasuke exclaimed._

"_Unlike you, if I don't use my chakra up through training it could end up in a life or death situation" Sakura rasped._

"_Explain" Sasuke ordered as he helped the girl up and brought her inside the main house._

"_If I don't use up my chakra from the previous day it builds up and stores in my muscles. If I keep this process up, sooner or later my muscles won't be able to hold much and begin to puncture, thus causing me to cough up blood. It get's worse when my lungs become to full of chakra and burst which makes it much harder to breathe. In the worst case scenario, I could literally become the first human time bomb" Sakura explained quietly._

"_How could you have so much chakra?" Sasuke asked._

"_I don't know! It just comes to me, you have no idea the trouble I go to, to keep my self from blowing to pieces, what you saw yesterday was only a minute version of what could happen to me" Sakura choked again. _

_Sasuke's eyes seemed to soften a fraction 'You train not to improve your self but to keep everyone else around you safe. How long have you been living like this?' Sasuke wondered._

"_Please, if not for me, just allow me to train for the sake of Konoha" Sakura pleaded._

…_END FLASH BACK_

"Then what was the other?" Sasuke asked.

"The pair" Sakura answered.

"To the demon?" Sasuke asked.

"Aa, his name is Yin-yang" Sakura said.

"As in good and evil stuff?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yea, it has to all be done equally for this stuff you know, if one is gone, the world could be and most likely would be thrown into chaos" Sakura said sorrowfully.

"How come no one ever knew about it?" Sasuke asked.

"Because no one did" Sakura replied.

"Then how did you end up with…her?" Sasuke inquired.

"Because she came to me, to save my life" Sakura replied monotonously, staring straight into Sasuke's eyes.

"W-what d-do you mean?" Sasuke spluttered.

"I mean, without her, I would have never been able to live passed one" Sakura said "When I was born, I was a terribly weak baby, I lacked the chakra or physical strength to live healthily, and I guess she just took pity on me since she merged into me while no one was around and gave me strength" Sakura explained.

"Then why release the strength you were given?" Sasuke asked.

"I didn't only train to keep her under control and suppress any killing urges, I did it to get stronger so my body could withstand anything thrown at me" Sakura said "Besides, the other spirit you saw, that was her lover" Sakura chuckled "I made a promise that as soon as I was strong enough and I had found the correct medium to remove her of me, I would let her go and…"

"And?" Sasuke frowned.

"If I didn't, my body wouldn't have been able to stand it for much longer and I would have literally been destroyed from the inside out" Sakura chuckled bitterly "Imagine, what a way to die, it's not like I'd be missed any way" Sakura chuckled as she trudged over to the pile of her neatly folded clothing.

'_A…life without…you…'_ Sasuke gaped when he thought of the idea that she could have been killed, watching her change into her large and heavy robes. Sliding into her skirts effortlessly, all that remained were her top layers but before she was able to even lift her arms to slid them over her pink head she was engulfed by a deep and loving hug from Sasuke.

"S-sasuke?" Sakura stuttered, turning her head to look at him.

"Don't even joke around when saying you wouldn't be missed" Sasuke whispered into her ears from behind.

"I-I w-wasn't" Sakura gulped.

"Then don't you don't ever consider being serious about it either" Sasuke said seriously, turning her to face him.

"Nani? Daijobou-mmph" Sakura exclaimed as she stared wide.

Sasuke had just locked lips with her.

And he tasted…

Heavenly…

Giving into the mind numbing kiss, Sakura moved her arms around his torso, hugging him closer to her exposed top half.

As minutes passed the two finally broke free, breathing heavily, each stared into each others eyes.

Silence ensured, engulfing the entire scene.

Until one broke the silence.

"Y-you…m-me…t-that" Sakura stammered, blushing a deep red.

"Sakura, I'm sorry if you weren't expecting it, but I have no regrets" Sasuke breathed, continuing to hug her tightly.

"T-then…y-you…" Sakura stuttered.

"I guess I do" Sasuke said.

"Why?" Sakura sniffed, lowering her gaze.

"There's just something about you that I lo-"

"N-no! Don't say it!" Sakura exclaimed, pushing away from him, stepping away in a frightened manner.

What?" Sasuke frowned, following her in the steps she took.

"This, why are you doing this to me!" Sakura screamed, holding her head in a confused manner.

"Doing what?" Sasuke frowned.

"Why do you keep breaking everything of mine down?!" Sakura exclaimed, moving her hands down to her heart where she clenched the material of her sports bra tightly. Widening his eyes in realization, Sasuke sighed inwardly as he watched the girl drop to the ground, confused at what was happening with her own body, her own heart. She didn't what him to do anything to her, and there he was penetrating and breaking down her carefully constructed walls around her fragile heart.

"You can't keep avoiding your emotions forever" Sasuke sighed, bending down to her "Maybe that's why here hearts so much for you" Sasuke said, putting his hand over his own heart. Slowly the girl's hands unclenched her hands and let them just rest where she was previously clenching.

"You said you didn't mourn over your parent's passing on, perhaps now you should try and let your emotions out" Sasuke suggested "To lock up something like that for so long, it isn't healthy" Sasuke sighed.

"You're one to talk" Sakura spat, standing up angrily.

"I let go of my parent's death a long time ago, I only aim to kill Itachi because I feel it's only right" Sasuke said.

"Tch, as far as I could tell, if you're doing it because it only feels right then you are still doing it for revenge and you haven't gotten over your clan's demise, nor will you be any different from your brother" Sakura said monotonously, sliding on her previously discarded shirts and over coats, Sakura disappeared in a cloud of smoke a cherry blossom petals.

"I am NOT the same as my brother!" Sasuke growled, punching the ground before he too disappeared in a cloud of smoke, oblivious to the fact that the forest they were just in disappeared slowly, leaving no traces that it existed before that day, oblivious to the fact he had just over come her genjutsu without even realizing it.

* * *

"Why did you have to do that Uchiha?" Sakura sighed, silently rejoicing in the fact the markings were finally gone from her being and the feeling of being free washed over her. Glancing down at her hands, Sakura seemed to smile a small relieved smile as her fingers traced her lips slightly dreamily. 

'_Hmm…it's quiet'_ Sakura noted, despite the fact she was on the Hokage monument away from the view of everyone and could still hear the liveliness of Konoha, especially the knuckle heads of the town and loud mouths that never stopped talking, even with all that noise, all that sound, all that aliveness, it was quiet to the girl upon the Hokage faces…

"What do you think Guyver? Is it about time we move on to another place?" Sakura asked to the bird resting on her shoulder. With no reply, the girl was left to wonder, what path would she follow since her main aim in her past few years of life had been completed?

"You don't want to move eh?" Sakura chuckled, "come on, let's just go home" Sakura announced before she stood up and disappeared in another cloud of smoke.

* * *

"Damn, maybe I shouldn't have done anything" Sasuke cursed, noting that it was almost midnight two days later and the girl had not returned to his abode to live as ordered by Tsunade "Tsunade-sama is going to kill me" Sasuke sighed, deciding to head out and look for her, who knows where she could have gotten to in two days.

* * *

"Where the hell is she?" Sasuke cursed while he continued to do rounds of the town looking for the pink haired girl. 

'_I think the only place I haven't checked is the Haruno Estate area, but I can't get in there without eleven other people and I'm not in the mood to be dealing with the dobe today'_ Sasuke analysed. Without any other thought in his mind aside finding the pink haired girl, he dashed towards the Haruno district in hopes of finding the girl, and if he was extremely lucky, she wouldn't have put the genjutsu up.

* * *

"I guess I'm lucky today that she forgot to put up the genjutsu" Sasuke mused, as he gazed at the flowered estate in front of him. Stepping forward, Sasuke braced him self, preparing to be attacked by an onslaught of different elements from a surprise ambush attack. 

Nothing.

There were no attacks. Maybe she forgot about that too. Turning on his sharingan, Sasuke stared wide-eyed. His sharingan told him the genjutsu was still up, yet here he was viewing the Haruno estate without any hindrances of any sort what so ever. Maybe, subconsciously, either he managed to break through it, or Sakura forgot to do something to her genjutsu. Tracing a path that he had only traveled once or twice before Sasuke soon found him self in front of the main house, where Sakura ran to last time, helping him assume that this was the deserted home that she lived in. Knocking on the door, the Uchiha survivor received no reply, and so turned to the handle, to find it unlocked and so pushed the mahogany brown doors open to reveal a whole maze of rooms and hallways. Recalling the direction Sakura headed once, Sasuke followed her path and walked down the hallways in hopes that the girl would be in her room. Going through the mysterious maze of rooms Sasuke found a room wide open and decided to peek inside.

Upon looking in the brightly lit room, Sasuke's curious gaze stared in an unknown and indescribable emotion as he watched the pink haired girl flip through one of her many large books with bangs covering her eyes so he couldn't see what ever emotion was played in them. In a way, it saddened him, because some how, he knew she was drowning her self in her own self pity and sorrow. It was truly a unique and bland room if Sasuke had say so himself, but then again, he couldn't really speak him self considering his room was also bland…just not as bland as this one…some how, it did suit Sakura, but it didn't as well. Wearing a plain blue sundress which had white flowers on the right breast and looked like it fell to the knees with her hair completely out, Sakura continued to flip pages, not noticing his presence or acknowledging it, with what appeared to be a pink rabbit plushie in her hold, bring her whatever comfort it provided for her. Next to her on the pillow of the bed, Guyver appeared to be sleeping happily. On closer inspection of the book (still at the door way), it looked like a photo album of her family, when she was younger, before her own tragedy. Watching her, he quietly stepped into the room and leaned on the door frame watching the girl had yet to look at him.

Suddenly, one tear dropped from her face and splattered onto the picture book telling the story of her life before the slaughter and horror she witnessed.

He was right; she was drowning in her own sorrow and self pity, and perhaps a bit of regret. Deciding to break the silence, he stared at the girl for one last moment, before he spoke.

"You know, it probably isn't good for you to be drowning your self in sorrow" Sasuke said, shocking the girl as she lifted her saddened gaze and stared in surprise at the Uchiha at her door.

"What are you…? How…?" Sakura gasped quietly.

"You've been gone for two days, what if Tsunade-sama found out?" Sasuke asked jokingly.

"O-oh…b-but…how'd?-"

"I don't know, I just walked in" Sasuke said, walking over to the girl and looking over her shoulder at the photo album.

"How could you? My Genjutsu!" Sakura frowned.

"This before the massacre?" Sasuke asked, flipping a page on his own _'She looked so cute when she was younger'_ Sasuke thought as he looked through the photo album slowly, from start to end. It was definitely different seeing her at such a young age, when she actually smiled without a care in the world with her brother and sister happily. Those three looked like an inseparable trio from what he could tell in the photos, the only time they weren't together was when Sakura had a picture with Ino or Daiki and Hikari had a picture with his own brother, even he had to say that Itachi (the man who he had sworn to kill for revenge) looked happy, like the old Itachi he remembered, not the merciless killer, that was his brother, he would have known, her brother and sister, and his brother were team mates? What a coincidence! If he had to make a resemblance to any team now, he'd have to say, their siblings team was some what similar to Team seven at the beginning. Hikari looked like the bright and loud person of the group- Naruto; Daiki seemed to be tolerable of anyone and was some what emotionless-Sakura and Itachi, the Uchiha- which is obviously the closest to him self. Funny eh?

"Y-yea" Sakura nodded, moving so Sasuke could sit down on the bed. Taking the silent invitation, Sasuke made him self comfortable and sat on the soft bed covers, next to Sakura.

"You looked pretty cute then too" Sasuke noted.

"A-aa" Sakura mumbled, blushing slightly.

"I didn't know Itachi and your brother and sister were all in one team" Sasuke said.

"Yea, they were often over here discussing battle plans or something, some times just hanging out" Sakura said.

"Who was their sensei?" Sasuke asked, noting how none of the pictures with the three had a jounin with them.

"Oh, I think his name is Miyuki or something, he came over once or twice to talk to my parents, but they weren't in a team often enough since they graduated into chuunin on their first try" Sakura said, chuckling inwardly at the irony of the whole situation.

"Oh, I think I remember him, he came over once to speak to my parents too" Sasuke nodded "You and Ino were friends?" Sasuke gaped.

"Yea, we used to be the best of friends, but I broke it off" Sakura said.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Because after _that_ we moved to Suna since of the whole incident and according to Daiki, the district was going to get rebuilt, which took five years" Sakura explained "It's kind of funny, I used to envy Ino and wish I could be like her, we can all see where that went" Sakura chuckled.

"We don't need two Inos' here, that'd be disastrous!" Sasuke exclaimed "But if you went to Suna, you would have known Gaara and that before wouldn't you?"

"Of course, who wouldn't know about the late Kazekage's children? And the kid who held the Shukaku demon in him" Sakura snorted "You learn a lot of things just by walking around"

"You eaves dropping?" Sasuke sneered.

"How do you think I got my 'excellent information gathering skills' eh? I certainly didn't get it off Kakashi" Sakura scoffed.

"Then how'd you meet Zabuza and Haku?" Sasuke asked.

"Zabuza-sensei was my first sensei who taught me things on the shinobi arts, I think I must have been six when he came to Suna with Haku, he was on a mission or something like that at the time, by that time I was already living on my own and so while they were in Suna, I tagged along with them and trained, continuing the studies from Konoha" Sakura explained.

"You came to them?" Sasuke gaped.

"Yea" Sakura nodded, inwardly recalling the day that she saw Zabuza and Haku training and decided to join them.

"Didn't you know they were criminals?" Sasuke stared.

"I did, but I guess my curious six-year old mind decided to ignore it completely" Sakura shrugged.

"I guess you never heard of the saying curiousity killed the cat" Sasuke snorted.

"Nah, I did, when I was in Konoha, I was topping the classes and passing with flying colours when I entered the academy at five" Sakura said.

"You're absolutely weird" Sasuke concluded.

"Aa" Sakura snorted "Look, Sasuke, I've got some things I need to do, could you please leave?"

"Like?"

"Just leave please" Sakura muttered.

"Fine" Sasuke nodded. Silently lifting him self off the circular bed and trudging out of the Haruno district, wondering what she was going to do.

* * *

"knock, knock" 

"Come in" Tsunade called from inside the room. Opening the door, Sakura (wearing her usual training gear) stepped into the office, noticing that Shizune was also in the room.

"Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?" Tsunade gaped.

"Can I speak with you for a moment?" Sakura requested.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked.

"Shizune-san, can I request that you leave for a moment" Sakura asked, turning to the black haired medic.

"Hai" Shizune nodded, behind her, the small pink pig followed at the heel of the woman, both disappearing behind the oak door.

"Now, what is it you wish to talk to me about" Tsunade asked, concerned that Sakura actually used the 'san' suffix with Shizune's name

"I know you're not going to like this, Tsunade-sama, but I'm leaving Konoha for a while" Sakura said monotonously, yet seriously.

"W-what?!" Tsunade exclaimed.

"I'm leaving Konoha, I don't know for how long, but I have things I need to do" Sakura explained.

"B-but why?" Tsunade frowned.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe I need to explain my reasons. I am going, whether or not you wish to tell others is your own decision, but I am leaving and when I return, if the option of entering the ANBU squad is still available, I will accept the offer" Sakura smiled half heartedly.

"B-but-"

"I'm sorry, but if you do try to stop me and get in my way, I will be fighting, either way, I am leaving. If you must know when, I will be leaving as soon as your clock, and everyone else's hits midnight, Goodbye Tsunade-sama" Sakura announced before she silently stepped out, non-to-surprised to find Shizune outside the door, in a suspicious position, obviously that meant she was eavesdropping.

"I assume you heard it all Shizune-san, please, keep your comments to your self, I can already pressume what they are" Sakura stated as she walked out of the Hokage building and towards the Uchiha mansion.

* * *

"I'm surprised you returned at all" Sasuke scoffed, watching her enter her temporary room. 

"Aa" Sakura nodded as she began stuffing all her clothing and training gear into the bag she came with.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke frowned, watching her pack everything neatly and slowly into the black duffel bag of hers. As she finished packing everything of hers, she zipped up her bag and slung it over her shoulders.

"I'm sorry Sasuke" Sakura whispered, leaving the boy stunned to death and frozen as she passed by him and walked out of the Uchiha residence. Trying to turn around and face the fleeing girl, Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized she had used a paralyzing jutsu on him to prevent him from catching her.

'_W-what does she mean 'I'm sorry', what's she apologizing for?'_ Sasuke growled as he tried to break free from the binds she put him in.

As hours passed his blonde haired, ramen/Hinata-loving companion stormed into the Uchiha household and towards Sasuke.

"Damn it looks like she got here before we could get to you!" Naruto cursed as he stormed into the Uchiha mansion in a hasty manner.

"What are you talking about dobe?" Sasuke growled as he was shaken by Naruto.

"Sakura-chan…Sakura-chan" Naruto wailed.

"Sakura? What about her?" Sasuke asked.

"She's…she's…" Hinata stammered.

"She's LEAVING!!!" Ino exclaimed.

"She's what?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"She's leaving" Neji repeated.

"Nani? Do you know why?" Sasuke frowned as he slowly regained control of his body.

"No one knows" Shikamaru frowned.

"Then how do you know she's leaving?" Sasuke asked.

"She told Tsunade-sama" Tenten said.

"The thing is…she actually used the suffix of 'sama' and 'san', she's never done that before. _Ever_" Ino scowled.

"Something must have happened" Sai concluded.

"Why does it matter what happened we have to stop her!" Naruto exclaimed loudly as he dragged Sasuke out of the Uchiha mansion and towards the Haruno district, to find the genjutsu back up again, and that it was even immune to Sasuke this time.

"What's going on?!" Naruto cried.

"Why is she leaving?" Tenten cried.

"I don't want her to leave again" Ino exclaimed.

"Then we have got to stop her!" Hinata proclaimed.

"Let's go before she leaves Konoha for good!" Neji announced before the Konoha twelve and Sai dashed towards the gate where Sakura would most likely leave from.

* * *

The clocks stroke midnight and while the majority of the city of Konoha lay peacefully in bed sleeping the night away, unaware of the fight that was about to arouse between many shinobi, a girl with pink hair adorned in a new attire walked the streets of Konoha, alone, all to aware of the twelve sets of eyes which kept a steady watch on her movements. Her new attire was hard to explain, but like many of her previous attire, it was designed carefully; it was meant to practical over beautiful however it was still quite an outfit that flattered her figure. The top consisted of half a tank top and half of an off the shoulder top. Split in the centre on half was red and black while the other half was a white; on the black side it began sloping up, showing a small section of her stomach. From her right hip a black belt was stitched onto the shirt diagonally and had two compartments on it, obviously meant to contain something she was as a necessity. Underneath the shirt on her left a fishnet arm band hung wrapped around her arm until her elbow and on the other arm, another fishnet band was placed half way in between her arm. On her hands were metal plated black fingerless gloves. 

The lower half like the top half consisted of belts that had many compartments on it; only this time instead of one there were two and were both lay diagonally on her hips, forming an 'X' shape. Like usual, she wore mid thigh length bike shorts and underneath that were knee length fishnet leggings. The skirt was basically a normal white skirt which had two slits up each side. Hiding her calves were black leg warmers which also hid the usual weights that she used for training and on her feet were black ninja sandals- it seemed she had reformed back to the typical ninja sandal instead of boots. Around her neck was a fishnet styled black choker and as usual her hair was tied into two buns on either side of her head with her usual black buckle hair bands. On her thighs were her kunai and shuriken holsters and on her hip was another pouch which held anything extra that she might have needed, considering all the compartments on her belts seemed to go around the back and fitted everything she needed. However, she still carried a bag which carried things like food and clothes and other things.

"So you really are leaving" Sasuke stated from behind her as her feet passed the Konoha gates. Pausing for a moment, Sakura turned around and faced the Konoha shinobi.

"Should you really be wearing the Konoha head band un-scratched if you are leaving?" Neji glared.

"On the contrary Hyuuga-san, I am temporarily leaving. I never said I'm not coming back, there are just a few things I need to fix up" Sakura answered with a serious expression.

"What's so important that you can't just stay here?" Ino cried.

"Gomen nasai Yamanaka-san if this is making you worry and cry, but there are just some things that don't concern you, so don't get involved" Sakura answered before she turned around and began walking.

"Why?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hmm?" Sakura turned to face him slightly.

"Why? Why are you leaving? Did we do something wrong? Are you angry? What's happening Sakura-chan?!" Naruto cried.

"Gomen nasai Uzamaki-san, but that is information you do not need to know" Sakura smiled.

"NANI?!" Hinata shouted "What are you hiding from us?! Why are you hiding it from us?"

"Sorry Hyuuga-san, but I really must be leaving, if it makes you feel any better, I will scratch out my head band and become an official missing nin, however, I do promise to come back" Sakura vowed. Stepping forward slightly, Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as the girl disappeared with the wind, leaving a trail of leaves and cherry blossom petals to dance in the wind behind her.

"SAKURA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sasuke shouted out of frustration as he felt his eyes sting with pain.

* * *

"I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, I really do want to return your feelings, my heart has already chosen you, from the day we met, when we became genins, I was just too stupid to realize them, if you're willing to, wait for me to return, I aim to get stronger than I ever was before, and find who exactly I am inside my own heart, because, I am indeed very confused. Gomen nasai Sasuke-kun" Sakura whispered as she watched him fall to the ground in anger that he had lost her before he could even do anything. 

"Aishiteru (sp?) **(I love you)**" Sakura whispered.

* * *

"Aishiteru" the wind whispered (strangely in Sakura's voice), tickling Sasuke's ears. Looking up, Sasuke averted his gaze around the forest, trying to spot a glimpse of pink. _'Okay Sakura, I'll wait for you, but promise me you won't die'_

* * *

**Notes:**

-Hehe, well this basically concludes the end of THotCB but I will do any epilogue in the near future I promise!

-Sorry but this may be the only thing I can post for a while ;--; I have school cert coming up in about a week and I really should start studying for it

-I hope you guys like ThotCB and I hope to return before the end of the year (loves you all)

-And as a small but very important note, I want to thank everyone of you for reviewing/adding to fav. Story/author lists, your undying support does not go unnoticed, I just have barely anytime to answer any calls –cries- maybe I can answer them in the future but until then, I want to say thanks for all the reviews so far and all the reviews in the future and any other comments I will take into consideration if it concerns my writing.

Special thanks to:

-DJ Hihi Kimiko for always supporting me near and far and becoming one of my very first friends on here.

-acechi-anghel for always giving the longest reviews that make me feel all warm inside

And

….

-drumroll-

-Everyone who has supported me through the entire story so far by just even considering to click the link to the story and_ read_ something as most likely crappy as this –sweatdrop- And I'm sorry for the too long chapters, I think I went over the top and added too much stuff into a few chapters along the way e.e;

-I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

dolphie-chama

* * *

Sequel: The Mind of the Cherry Blossom 


	8. Epilogue

Epilogue: Her Heart, Her Decision, Her Promise

**Summary: **She was admired, she was worshiped; she was praised. She grew in strength and power, she grew distant towards people. Since five, she had trying to save the people around her, but then she just gave up after her closest friend left her. She had never cried since the slaughter of her clan, but she still smiled, but as soon as he left, everything changed, she stopped smiling, she had forgotten how to. She had saved people numerous times in battle with her knowledge and abilities, she brought them back healthy from the missions they came across, it didn't matter, as long as her whole team came back safely, even if she was on the brink of death, she wouldn't allow her self to die pathetically. She had saved everyone, yet she was the one in need of saving; saving from herself and her decaying heart. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.

--

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Inner selves'**_

"Talking"

_FLASH BACK…_

P.O.V

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

* * *

She left, that was all there was to it. It seemed in an odd way, she was paying back the favour when they decided to leave Konoha and oddly, they felt it was the same reasons. To get stronger, but despite of themselves, Sasuke and Naruto strongly believed there was something else that set this decision to defect off, however, there was also a good hint that she was going to return. She said she was temporarily leaving, but some weren't so sure, but Sasuke was certain she would return, whether or not in a body bag depended on time.

'_Dear Sasuke,_

_By the time you have found this letter I will most likely be long gone. I'm sorry for only alerting Tsunade-sama for this decision, but anyone else and the word would have spread and you would have tried to fight me to stop me from leaving. Gomen nasai, I couldn't stay after the recent events, and no I am not referring to the kiss we shared. I enjoyed it as much as you did, I'm sure. I do care for you greatly, but right now, I'm confused with everything, I just need to move around and discover the answers. _

_You know I had a demon in me, please, I beg of you, don't tell any one about the ceremony you witnessed, I've been hiding her for so long, I don't want any one else to know she exists so they capture her and use her powers for the wrong reasons. And, I know this may sound silly and rather stupid, but another reason to why I'm leaving is to get stronger on my own. Since today, my powers have originated from her and now without her, I feel weak, like I'm missing something, which I technically am. It honestly feels too quiet, everyone maybe talking at their loudest, yet I feel as if the world has gone silent. Stupid isn't it? To be reliant on her for so long then I just give her away?_

_I promise you, I will return, I only ask of you one thing. Many years ago when you defected to Sound, you made a promise with me, and now I will make that promise with you. I promise to return after five years, in that time, if people are sent looking for me and you are one of them, please do not interfere, do not fight me, I do not want that. If I have not returned you may search for me and kill me or whatever you decide is best. I hope you are willing to keep this promise; it's all I ask of you. It's your own choice to wait for me, but know this. _

_I love you._

_Gomen nasai Sasuke-kun, I will return, I swear it on my life as a Konoha Shinobi,_

_Aishiteru,_

_Haruno Sakura'_

That was the letter she left, in a place only he would be able to find. After reading, his eyes seemed to spill tears before he smiled, wiped the tears away and put the letter in his pocket, aiming to get stronger in the village like she did when he left the village to get stronger.

"I accept your promise Haruno Sakura" he declared. Suddenly the wind blew.

"Arigato" the wind whispered.

Some how, he knew he accepted and would keep her promise to him, because, he loved her, it was that simple. She loved him. Her heart had chosen him after everything, after every encounter they had good or bad, some how he managed to chip at the stones that was her heart and cracked at it until it almost shattered. Even after doing that, she repaired her self, accepted him as a close friend (despite her words) and began to trust him. That was her heart's decision; the _Heart of the Cherry Blossom_, so to speak.

* * *

**Notes:**

-Well, this concludes**The Heart of the Cherry Blossom**

-Again sorry for the short epilogue –sweatdrops-

-Sequel: The Mind of the Cherry Blossom


End file.
